Session: Training Social Work Students to Collaborate on Interdisciplinary Teams That Provide Culturally- and Linguistically-Appropriate Behavioral Health Care (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Because of the severe shortage of providers in the United States, federal funding is supporting the training of future behavioral health professionals, including social work students. These programs create opportunities for students to learn and apply skills shown to improve access and quality of care for individuals from historically oppressed and marginalized groups. Specifically, these programs aim to enhance students’ ability to collaborate, work on interdisciplinary teams, and provide culturally- and linguistically-appropriate care. Although these programs have similar foci, their approaches to training and the communities they serve differ. Given these differences, research is needed to examine whether these programs are showing evidence of possible effectiveness. Such information can provide insight into whether these programs should continue, be revised, or be discontinued. The purpose of this symposium is to disseminate findings from multiple behavioral health workforce development programs that train social work students to collaborate on interdisciplinary teams that provide culturally- and linguistically-appropriate care.

This symposium combines three papers about three workforce development programs funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. Each program (a) trains individuals to work in medically underserved areas or health professional shortage areas; (b) provides enhanced training to final-year graduate students in social work and other programs; and (c) trains participants from diverse racial, cultural, class, and geographic backgrounds and gender identity and sexual orientations. Despite the similarities in programs, each is in a different geographic area (urban, rural, and a mix of both) and has a different approach to training participants. Nonetheless, each program uses research methods – including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods – to examine students’ experiences with the program.

Results from all three papers showed medium to large effect sizes based on Cohen’s d benchmark. The first paper used a pretest-posttest design and found that the program demonstrated promise in preparing social work students to work collaboratively, with specific improvements in participants’ attitudes toward healthcare teams, team skills, and experiences in behavioral health. The second paper also used a pretest-posttest design and included qualitative data. Findings from this study showed improved interprofessional skills and self-reported CSWE competencies, including culturally responsive, interprofessional behavioral health care. The third paper used a convergent mixed methods design to merge quantitative and qualitative. Findings from this study showed that although participants perceived themselves as having improved cultural and linguistic competence after participating in the program, they described needing more training that used case studies.

At the conclusion of the symposium, attendees will understand the current findings from three workforce development programs - across various geographic areas - in preparing social work students, along with other graduate students, to deliver quality behavioral health care. Moreover, attendees will understand directions for future research and training for behavioral health social workers.