#socialwork: An International Study Examining Social Workers’ Use of Information and Communication Technology

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) permeated social work practice before coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to ICT-based formal services (e.g. e-counselling), social workers used ICTs informally as an adjunct to face-to-face practice. Building on our previous research, our cross-sectional online survey examined social workers’ informal use of ICTs in four countries: Canada, the USA, Israel and the UK. The survey was administered through Qualtrics software among social workers across Canada (n = 2,609), the USA (n = 1,225), Israel (n = 386) and the UK (n = 134), and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. The findings substantiate the ubiquitous use of informal ICTs in social work practice, as an adjunct to face-to-face treatment, across the four countries. Given the current, unprecedented context of COVID-19, we discuss the meaning of our findings related to access, ethical considerations (e.g. professional boundaries) and supervision in the context of restricted face-to-face practice. We discuss the implications for social work practice, education and research, and conclude that in the COVID-19 context, there is an even greater need for research, clinical discussion, supervision and policy on informal ICT use in social work practice.

Social Work Practice During COVID-19: Client Needs and Boundary Challenges

“…It will be important for agencies to implement clear policies regarding professional boundaries. In phase one of the study (survey of social workers' informal ICT use), a significant percentage of participants did not discuss their ICT use with supervisors or colleagues (Mishna et al, 2021a, b). This finding underscores that organizations must provide support for practitioners in maintaining professional boundaries and ensuring wellbeing, for example, providing work cellphones, as participants found this helped them keep work separate from their personal lives.…”

“…The current study is the second of two sequential phases in a mixed-methods study. Phase one entailed an online survey administered to practitioners in Canada, the USA, Israel, and the UK, which explored informal ICT use in face-to-face practice (Mishna et al, 2021a, b). Informed by the survey data, the current study (phase two) began in April 2019, which involved semi-structured interviews with practitioners and clients in a large city in Canada.…”

“…The purpose of the current study, which was underway at the onset of COVID-19, was to investigate social workers' informal ICT use with clients in Canada (Mishna et al, 2021a, b). Recognizing the context of COVID-19, we amended the questions to investigate ICT use during the pandemic.…”

It’s up to you: The need for self-directed learning for social work students on placement during COVID-19

“…Learning to relate in an online space, managing one’s time and motivation while working remotely, being technology literate and ready to use online communication platforms thus will be crucial to supporting service users through direct service delivery, programmes and service review in current times. More training, professional development, supervision, information and consultation is needed to support social workers, other professionals and service users in the use of information and communication technologies to mitigate the challenges of online spaces ( Liberati et al , 2021 ; Mishna et al , 2021 ). To date, learning with and about technologies is underdeveloped in the social work curriculum.…”

“…Moreover, not all service users easily embrace accessing services that are delivered remotely, some experience conditions that might make remote work unsuitable and some are challenged by building safe online relationships, assessment or identification of deteriorating well-being (Johnson et al , 2020; Liberati et al , 2021 ), so preparing future social workers online practice and to consider its usefulness and limitations will be important. Social workers in agencies and teaching platforms in Universities were increasingly using information and communication technologies before the onset of COVID-19, so it will be useful to explore how students responded when the use of information and communication technologies became the formal modality to undertake a field placement ( Mishna et al , 2021 ).…”