Social Work Leadership

The concept of leadership has always been a subject of interest from ancient times to the present. The requirement for different types of leadership styles has emerged over time due to the change and innovation taking place in the organizations, and therefore, new leadership approaches have been established as a result. The aim of this study is to examine the concept of social work leadership, as a new leadership approach, and present a general framework within the scope of the studies conducted on social work leadership. Within this context, the concepts of leadership, social work, and social work leadership have been addressed, the competencies required by the social work leaders have been reviewed, and the studies conducted with respect to social work leadership were discussed. As a result of a comprehensive literature review, it was concluded that the studies regarding social work leadership were not sufficient, and the existing studies underline the lack of interest in leadership in the field of social work and make a call for leadership accordingly.

Digital Juncture

Challenged by the pandemic and its future aftermath, social work has been forced to relocate its relational social change mission and action to a new address, replacing a physical location with a URL. The need for digital accessibility thus has rapidly appeared and is now a major squeaky wheel in the profession. In order to make this move while upholding the professional mission of full inclusion, this chapter proposes a model of progressive digital accessibility. A synthetic framework marrying disjuncture theory and pragmatist ethics provides a rich foundation from which forensic analysis can expose and capitalize on “what is wrong,” disrupt business as usual, and innovate to achieve accessibility that is fluid, just, and worthy of social work leadership.

Social work leadership competencies in health and mental healthcare: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionLeadership skills are an integral part of effective social work practice in health and mental healthcare settings. Social workers require critical leadership skills to effectively support, treat and advocate for the complex needs of those most vulnerable. Despite an increasing focus on social work leadership within the last decade, there has been a paucity of research on social work leadership competencies within the realm of health and mental health service provision. To bridge this gap, this scoping review will synthesise and map the current literature on social work leadership competencies in health and mental healthcare.Methods and analysisArksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework for scoping reviews will guide our search of six academic databases including: PsycINFO, OVID Social Work Abstracts, OVID Medline, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts and CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Selected articles that meet inclusion criteria will then be reviewed and charted. Recurrent themes will be reviewed through a qualitative thematic analysis, and reported in both text and figures.Ethics and disseminationFindings will highlight key social work leadership competencies as they relate to social work practice, team dynamics, and client outcomes within health and mental healthcare. Material retrieved in this scoping review was selected from publicly available sources, and thus as an obtrusive research method, this review does not warrant ethics approval. Findings from this review will be disseminated through published scholarly material, as well as presented at conferences pertaining to social work research, practice and education.

Katz, Arthur J.

Arthur J. Katz (1924–2018) had a distinguished career in social work. He made outstanding contributions to social work as a practitioner, advocate, educator, author, consultant, administrator, teacher, and dean. He held a variety and combination of unique and significant roles in social-work leadership.