Interdisciplinary Insights on Education and Training for Sport Social Workers

Background

To serve the complex and dynamic needs of athletes, research has underscored the importance of interprofessional care (Beasley et al., 2024). These interdisciplinary teams have traditionally featured clinical psychologists, sport psychology professionals, and licensed counselors. However, an emerging area of social work practice—sport social work—is gaining momentum (Newman et al., 2021). Although the specialization of sport social work is relatively novel, individuals have long been providing mental/behavioral health services to athletes (Hanna, 1993). In fact, the use of sport and recreation to cultivate community engagement and support the health and wellbeing of immigrants can be traced back to the Hull House (Reynolds, 2017). Regardless, as a relatively new social work specialization, much remains unknown about how current sport social workers developed the requisite competence to service the unique mental and behavioral health needs of athletes. This study sought to explore the current learning opportunities available for sport social workers.

Method

Online survey was distributed to the Alliance of Social Workers in Sports email listserv, which included approximately 150 members. A total of 84 social workers participated in the study who primarily worked in collegiate athletics (n = 38), high school sport (n = 30), and/or afterschool programming (n = 30). Participants completed a 22-item online Qualtrics survey, comprised of both closed- (i.e., multiple choice) and open-ended questions. Braun et al. (2020) posited “qualitative surveys offer one thing that is fairly unique within qualitative data collection methods – a ‘wide-angle lens’ on the topic of interest that provides the potential to capture a diversity of perspectives, experiences, or sense-making” (p.3). Example questions included “Have you received specific training related to your work in sport? If yes, where and from whom did you receive this training? What was the content and length of training? How satisfied were you with the training that you have received, and why?” A four-step content analysis (Bengtsson, 2016)—which included decontextualization, recontextualization, categorization, and compilation—was conducted to analyze responses from open-ended questions.

Findings

The majority of participants did not receive any formal academic training and instead learned ‘on the job’. However, those who receive formal education did so during their graduate program, often through unique internships and/or elective courses. Outside of academic programs, participants provided insights into the value of professional certificate programs, continuing education opportunities (e.g., workshops), and supervision and mentorship. Participants signaled mixed opinions of available learning opportunities, with a common critique being the lack of social work representation. In fact, learning from and/or collaborating with peers who worked in sport/athletics was identified as being particularly meaningful. Participants also highlighted the need for, and interest in, training related to (competitive) athlete mental health.

Conclusion

Sport social work is an ever-growing area of social work practice. However, findings underscore a notable absence of formal academic programs and professional development opportunities for current and aspiring sport social workers. To provide culturally competent practice and remain compliant with social work ethics, there is a keen need for learning opportunities specifically designed for sport social workers.