A Mixed Methods Exploration of Family Planning Topics in Social Work Education

Background: Social work is a profession that emphasizes social justice, client self-determination, and providing resource-referrals to clients. However, while family planning topics affect individuals, couples, families, and communities in numerous ways, a surprising scarcity of social work research efforts have explored how family planning topics are encountered in social work practice, how social work education focuses on training social workers to engage with clients regarding family planning, and social workers’ attitudes toward often-contentious family planning issues, such as abortion, fertility, and unintended pregnancy. The study investigated 1) how family planning topics appear in social work practice, 2) how social work education prepares social workers to engage with clients and communities regarding family planning topics and policies, and 3) how social workers’ attitudes and beliefs may shape their approaches to work regarding family planning.

Methods: Using a parallel mixed methods design, individual, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with early-career social workers employed in marriage and family therapy settings in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States (N=8), while a quantitative survey was developed and administered to a nationwide and representative sample of current social work students in the U.S. (N=504). In both samples, blended purposive and convenience sampling was employed to recruit participants. Respondents were asked if and/or how family planning topics appear in practice, if and/or how these topics are covered in social work education, and questions pertaining to their personal beliefs regarding family planning issues and policies. Qualitative interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and following initial rounds of open and middle-order “holistic” coding, consensus among two coders was established to finalize codes and primary themes. The quantitative survey was administered online using Qualtrics, and questions pertaining to social workers’ practice and education experiences and individual beliefs were recorded through Likert-type scale responses. The survey consisted of items developed by the Principal Investigator, utilizing input from other family planning scholars, in combination with several established, validated measures of sexual and reproductive health attitudes and beliefs. Linear regressions were then used to analyze aspects of social workers’ family planning practice and education experiences and attitudes/beliefs, controlling for sociodemographics.

Results: Across both samples, family planning topics very frequently appear in social work practice and in a myriad of ways, while most social workers feel vastly under-prepared to help clients, particularly as they reported having limited knowledge of available family planning resources and relevant policies. Whereas the majority of social workers self-identified as supportive of reproductive self-determination across both data collection strands, some social workers said upholding their own personal beliefs outweighs providing clients with comprehensive family planning knowledge and referrals. 

Conclusions: An obligation exists upon social work researchers and educators to further emphasize family planning in education efforts, given its common appearance in social work practice. While respondents noted these topics are often avoided in education settings because of polarized attitudes and stigma, social workers should receive improved, accurate training, while also accessing “safe spaces” to grapple with their personal beliefs before engaging in “real” practice with clients and communities.