A mixed methods investigation of abortion and social work: Opportunities for research and education

Social work endorses professional values including social justice, self-determination, and providing clients with resource-referrals. While abortion impacts individuals and client systems in numerous ways, a perplexing scarcity of social work research endeavors have examined how the topic of abortion arises in social work practice settings, how social workers are trained for work with clients regarding abortion, and social workers’ abortion attitudes. Utilizing a sequential mixed methods approach, qualitative interviews of marriage and family therapy social workers (N=6) were conducted, which influenced the development of a nationwide quantitative survey that was subsequently administered to social work students (N=504). In both studies, social workers were asked how the topic of abortion presents in practice settings, how abortion is addressed in social work education, and questions regarding their personal beliefs about abortion. Results indicated that the topic of abortion frequently appears in social work practice, while social workers feel highly unprepared for such situations, noting limited knowledge of available abortion resources and related policies. While most social workers self-identified as pro-choice, numerous social workers responded that adherence to their own personal beliefs is more important than providing medically-accurate information and resource-referrals to clients. Accordingly, researchers and educators have a responsibility to further highlight abortion as an important social work topic. Participants noted that the subject of abortion is avoided in education settings because of stigma and polarized opinions. Arguably, however, social workers should receive training regarding this important public health topic, while exploring their beliefs in classroom settings prior to engaging with clients.