Social Workers Employed in Substance Abuse Treatment Agencies: A Training Needs Assessment.
Social Work › Vol. 45 Nbr. 2, March 2000
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Social Workers Employed in Substance Abuse Treatment Agencies: A Training Needs Assessment.
This article describes the results of an assessment of the substance abuse treatment training needs of social workers working in randomly selected substance abuse treatment facilities in New England. This assessment revealed that clinical supervision related to substance abuse treatment had not been available to a significant percentage of the respondents throughout their careers. Despite limited previous training experience and considerable barriers to current training, social workers surveyed in this study reported significantly higher levels of knowledge and skill than other substance abuse treatment providers in 10 of 12 substance abuse treatment areas investigated. Despite these high levels of knowledge and skill, respondents reported considerable need for and interest in additional substance abuse treatment training. This study identified the areas of assessment, advanced clinical techniques, and dual diagnosis as priorities for future training among social workers working in substance abuse treatment facilities.
Key words: addiction; needs assessment; social work practice; substance abuse treatment; training Because substance abuse is so widespread, social workers in most settings routinely come in contact with clients who have substance abuse problems. In many cases social workers may be the first service providers to have contact with substance abusers through major service delivery systems, such as child welfare, family service, employee assistance, schools, programs for the elderly, and community-based multiservice centers. Social workers also serve in key assessment and referral roles in many health and mental health settings. These situations provide social workers with the opportunity to identify substance abuse problems among clients and to provide or arrange for appropriate treatment. However, social workers often have had little or no training in the delivery of substance abuse treatment (Einstein & Wolfson, 1970; Schlesinger & Barg, 1986). Lack of training of social workers may limit substance-abusing clients' access to appropriate and effective treatment and intervention. Because at least half of all hospitalized patients in urban areas have substance abuse-related problems and $240 billion of the nation's...See the full content of this document
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