Social Work Research on Global Environmental Change: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Background and Purpose. Global environmental change refers to widescale transformations in the natural environment that are due, at least in part, to human activity. Examples include climate change, air pollution, and freshwater decline. These changes are social and environmental justice issues, as they tend to disproportionately affect people from the most vulnerable groups. Conceptual articles and “calls-to-action” for the profession to address this area are many. Social workers have expertise that can mitigate the human consequences of global environmental change, but need an evidence base on which to develop and implement appropriate response strategies. This systematic review assesses the state of empirical social work research on global environmental change, to identify an agenda and future directions for advancing social work research and practice in this critical area.

Methods. Database and manual searches using a comprehensive set of a priori search terms yielded 3,150 non-duplicate citations. After title/abstract screening and full manuscript review, 112 studies met the following inclusion criteria: (1) published since January 1, 1985; (2) published in a peer-reviewed journal; (3) empirical (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodology); (4) is social work research, as operationalized by being published in a social work journal or authored by at least one person with a social work affiliation (e.g., faculty member in a department or college of social work); and (5) examines at least one topic related to global environmental change.

Results. Social work research on global environmental change has recently accelerated, with almost half of included studies published since 2011 and many in response to a specific event (e.g., Hurricane Katrina). The most frequently studied topics were hurricanes and typhoons (33.0%), climate change (12.5%), flooding (11.6%), energy (10.7%), and drought (8.9%). Most studies were conducted in U.S./Canadian or Asian contexts. Many studies describe problem consequences or how people cope with change, advancing understanding of who is affected and how. While over one third examine a formal response or intervention, the rigor of outcomes-focused research is lacking, providing limited support for an evidence base for social work practice or policy implications. Among implications identified by the included studies themselves, mezzo or macro implications for practice (e.g., engage with communities and/or use participatory approaches, target national policies or resources to locally-identified or non-traditional needs) were more numerous than those for micro level practice (e.g., improve social worker training, use the intervention or tool tested by the study).

Conclusions and Implications. Recent growth of social work research on global environmental change is promising. Scholars should further diversify the topics and global settings that they are studying and engage with populations and systems before crisis events occur. There is a critical need for intervention research by social work scholars in this area, with more rigorous methods of outcome measurement. By advancing the evidence base for interventions in particular, social work research can inform practice and policy strategies for mitigating the human consequences of global environmental change, in ways that are grounded in social work values and prioritize solutions for and with the most vulnerable groups.