Exploring Social Work Educator Responsibility to Address Student Wellness

Overview: This study seeks to identify factors that influence United States social work educators’ sense of responsibility to support students’ nine holistic wellness needs. Reflections upon the evolving nature of educator responsibility and implications for social work education are discussed.Proposal text: Within social work education, increased student stress, burnout, and exhaustion can impact students’ professional preparation and academic success (Grise-Owens et al., 2018). The Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) of the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) specifies the competencies BSW and MSW students must be able to demonstrate to earn the respective degrees. Reviewing the different editions of the EPAS provides a window into how the view of social work student training has changed over time. The 2015 EPAS recognized that students need to show competency in managing their affective reactions and this could be interpreted as encouraging students to manage stress, however, self-care was not mentioned (CSWE, 2015). As of January 2022, the second draft of the EPAS 2022 does identify self-care as “paramount for competent and ethical social work practice” (CSWE, 2021, Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior) within the description of the first competency. This requirement provides further validation for social work educators role in providing tools and information for students to manage their well-being and overall health.  

Holistic wellness promotion is connected to boosting psychological functioning and can advance prevention of physical disorders (Gieck & Olsen, 2007). The University of Houston holistic wellness model conceptualizes nine aspects of wellness: social, financial, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, occupational, environmental, physical wellness (University of Houston, 2022).

To create a sustainable social work field, a culture around wellness must be developed (Grise-Owens et al., 2018). Students can learn and practice self-care tools to manage the intensity of their education and professional lives (Diebold et al., 2018). While educators are increasingly sharing teaching efforts to support student mental health and stress management (O’Neill et al., 2019; Roulston et al., 2018) and researchers are exploring faculty responsibility to attend to student mental health (Todd et al., 2019; Warfel, 2021), the extent to which social work educators experience responsibility to address all areas of wellness has been less explored. 

We are distributing a survey through social work education listservs to gather the views of social work educators about supporting student’s wellness needs. Inclusion criteria requires respondents have at least one-year previous experience of working with BSW or MSW students. Information gathered includes demographics, scales about educator responsibility to assist students, and open-ended questions about educator views on barriers and supports in strengthening student wellness. We will explore group differences between instructor characteristics and tendency to address specific aspects of wellness and do a content analysis of the open questions about instructor sense of responsibility. 

This study can provide insights into the changing landscape of social work education. Strengthening students’ holistic wellness could contribute to more meaningful learning in school and extend longevity in the challenging field of social work. If instructors are becoming more mindful of strengthening the overall wellness of their students, this may change how future social workers manage their professional responsibilities.