The development of employment-based education on substance use for social workers in England: embedding substance use training in frameworks of Continuing Professional Development
Affiliation
University of BedfordshireIssue Date
2014-06-04Subjects
substance misusealcohol
drugs
social work
training
workforce development
continuing professional development
national occupational standards
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Service users in the social care sector affected by substance use need a workforce which is skilled at protecting and supporting them, and who are able to carry out their roles and responsibilities with confidence. Workforce/Learning Development departments in children's and adults' services in England play an important role in preparing social workers to engage effectively with service users and to develop as practitioners. Drawing on data from a survey of 94 Workforce/Learning Development departments, this article examines the development of employment-based education on substance use. Only 33% of these departments had a dedicated training strategy or series of programmes on substance use, although more than half (59%) provided tools for identifying and assessing substance use. A wide range of professionals were involved in the development of this training, particularly those in specialist safeguarding and substance use roles. Social work and substance use textbooks are the main source of materials accessed to support training development. A lack of strategic engagement with substance use in social care was one of the barriers cited to adequate training provision. Implications for social work education include the importance of embedding AOD education in post-qualifying training frameworks at both university and employer levels.Citation
Hutchinson, A., Allnock, D. (2014) 'The Development of Employment-Based Education on Substance use for Social Workers in England: Embedding Substance use Training in Frameworks of Continuing Professional Development' Social Work Education, 33 (5):589-604Publisher
Taylor and FrancisJournal
Social Work EducationAdditional Links
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02615479.2014.919069Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0261-54791470-1227
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/02615479.2014.919069