Social work professionals utilize the role of advocates to highlight health disparities, and lobby for healthy public policy. In efforts to develop these skills, a critical component is professional training and development of social work professionals working in the field of health and public health. This paper describes a study which was undertaken to examine how disability content was delivered through social work education in the United States at accredited Schools of Social Work (N=491), particularly within the core courses of the social work curricula. Preliminary findings suggest that there is a strong interest in developing and utilizing resources to strengthen the integration of disability content within all five areas of core competency within the social work curricula. The use of public health resources will be discussed and barriers/challenges for incorporating disability content within social work education, in light of Healthy People 2010 goals will be identified.
Learning Objectives: 1.Understand core competencies for social work education. 2.Understand the role of disability within the content of core courses in social work education. 3.Gain awareness of how to use public health resources in social work education. 4.Understand at least two barriers or challenges for incorporating disability content within social work education
Keywords: Public Health Education, Social Work
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.