Principal Investigators: Susan Glassburn, Assistant Professor, IU School of Social Work; Vincent Starnino, Associate Professor, IU School of Social Work
Project Title: Bridging the Gap: Development of an Integrated Health/Behavioral Health Course in the Master of Social Work program
Funding Level: $5000
Abstract: Health care practice for social work is changing as research shows that a majority of health care patients often have a co-occurring mental health issue, such as depression or anxiety. Many settings require an understanding of the complex interplay between health and mental health, such as primary care, geriatrics, pediatrics, and hospice, as well as those serving the homeless population, the seriously mentally ill, and those with HIV, among others. Providing care for both issues in the same setting, known as integrated care, achieves better patient outcomes. The Master of Social Work program at IU is structured so that students must choose a specialty focus area for their final year. The Health focus area and the Mental Health focus areas are separate, making it difficult for students in one area to get advanced coursework from the other. This division of content is becoming problematic as it is not reflective of real-world practice. Employers are increasingly seeking students who can address the full range of biopsychosocial patient concerns. This proposal seeks to bridge that gap in our curriculum by creating a syllabus for a course on integrated health care. Our goals are to: 1) Assess the eight syllabi in our current health and mental health focus areas for relevant content, 2) Conduct a thorough literature review on integrated care skills and competencies, 3) Solicit input for syllabus content via a focus group of social work providers, and finally, 4) Develop a course syllabus on integrated care incorporating all of the above.