The NIMH Task Force on Social Work Research Report: Past Accomplishments and Current Challenges

Abstract

Following the publication of the groundbreaking report by the National Institute of Mental Health Task Force on Social Work Research in 1991, major gains have been made in building a potent infrastructure for social work research. Since then, however, progress has faltered in key areas and complex new challenges have emerged. These developments are examined and suggestions are set forth regarding how best to address the most serious challenges.

Keywords

National Institute of Mental Health social work research education practice

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Austin

D. M.

(1998). A report on progress in the development of research resources in social work. Steve Hicks School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin.

Barner

J. R.

Holosko

M. J.

Thyer

B. A.

(2014). American Social work and psychology faculty members’ scholarly productivity: A controlled comparison of citation impact using the h-index. British Journal of Social Work, 44(8), 2448–2458. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bct161

Council on Social Work Education (2022). 2021 statistics on social work education in the United States. https://www.cswe.org/about-cswe/governance/governance-groups/commission-on-research/research-statistics/2021-annual-statistics-on-social-work-education-in-the-united-states/.

Council on Social Work Education & Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (2022). Report on the current landscape of doctoral education in social work. https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/243de7d7-7877-4e67-9b96-0ba28041fefe/cswe-gade-report-on-the-current-landscape-of-doctoral-education-in-social-work3.pdf/.

Courtney

M. E.

(2018). Whither American social work in its second century? Social Service Review, 92(4), 487–503. https://doi.org/10.1086/701612

Delva

Abrams

L. S.

(2022). Social work researchers: From scientific technicians to changemakers. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 13(4), 645–661. https://doi.org/10.1086/722773

Feldman

R. A.

(2005, January 12). The St. Louis group for excellence in social work research and education: Historical overview, current issues, and future prospects [Invited presentation]. Meeting of the St. Louis Group for Excellence in Social Work Research and Education, Miami, FL.

Feldman

R. A.

(1999). The human resource crisis in social work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 35(2), 178–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.1999.10778957

Fong

Gehlert

Marsh

J. C.

Uehara

E. S.

Williams

J. H.

(2019). Reflections on the history of the society for social work and research, 2008–2019. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 10(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1086/702826

10.

Grossmann

Feinberg

Parker

D. C.

Christakis

N. A.

Tetlock

P. E.

Cunningham

W. A.

(2023). AI and the transformation of social science research. Science, 380(6650), 1108–1109. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi1778

11.

Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (n.d.). Member institutions: DSW programs. https://www.gadesocialwork.org/DSWprograms.

12.

Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (2023). 2023 Quality guidelines for PhD programs in social work. https://www.gadesocialwork.org/Portals/0/docs/GADE%20PhD%20Program%20Quality%20Guidelines%202023%20Revised.pdf.

13.

Hayes

R. M.

(1994). Information science methods for knowledge retrieval: Basic approaches and emerging trends. In Rothman

Thomas

E. J.

(Eds.), Intervention research: Design and development for human service (pp. 101–116). Haworth Press.

14.

Jaggers

J. W.

Mogro-Wilson

(2023). Social work research in the age of artificial intelligence. Families in Society, 104(4), 407–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894231200811

15.

Mullen

E. J.

(2021). Evidence-based social work practice: Finding evidence. In Oxford bibliographies in social work. Oxford University Press. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389678-0043.xml

16.

National Institute of Mental Health Task Force on Social Work Research (1991). Building social work knowledge for effective services and policies: A plan for research development. Author.

17.

O’Leary

Tsui

M.-S.

(2023). AI and social work. International Social Work, 66(5), 1353–1354. https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728231199801

18.

Patton

D. U.

Landau

A. Y.

Mathiyazhagan

(2023). ChatGPT for social work science: Ethical challenges and opportunities. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 14(3), 553–562. https://doi.org/10.1086/726042

19.

Reamer

F. G.

(2023). Artificial intelligence in social work: Emerging ethical issues. International Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 20(2), 52–71. https://doi.org/10.55521/10-020-205

20.

Singer

J. B.

Baez

J. C.

Rios

J. A.

(2023). AI creates the message: Integrating AI language learning models into social work education and practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 59(2), 294–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2023.2189878

21.

Sliva

S. M.

Greenfield

J. C.

Bender

Freedenthal

(2019). Introduction to the special section on public impact scholarship in social work: A conceptual review and call to action. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 10(4), 529–535. https://doi.org/10.1086/706112

22.

Susskind

(2016). The future of the professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts. Oxford University Press.

23.

Thyer

B. A.

Polk

(1997). Social work and psychology professors’ scholarly productivity: A controlled comparison of cited journal articles. Journal of Applied Social Sciences, 21(2), 105–110.

24.

Victor

B. G.

Sokol

R. L.

Goldkind

Perron

B. E.

(2023). Recommendations for social work researchers and journal editors on the use of generative AI and large language models. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 14(3), 563–577. https://doi.org/10.1086/726021