Social Work Commons^™

Mental Health Problems Among Elementary School Students Mandated To E-Learning: A Covid-19 Rapid Review Caveat, Renée M. D'Amore, Angelina N. Halpern, Lauren R. Reed, Kevin M. Gorey

International Journal of School Social Work

Extended lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic mandated millions of students worldwide to e-learning and by default made many of their parents proxy homeschool teachers. Preliminary anecdotal, journalistic and qualitative evidence suggested that elementary school children and their parents were probably most vulnerable to this stressor and most likely to experience mental health problems because of it. We responded with a rapid review of 15 online surveys to estimate the magnitude of such risks and their predictors between 2020 and 2021. The pooled relative risk of mental health problems among school children and their parents was substantial (RR = 1.97). Moreover, …

Social Work Educators’ Perceptions Of School Social Work Leadership – What Are The Characteristics That Make A Leader?, Christine Vyshedsky

International Journal of School Social Work

Social workers in school settings are uniquely poised to propose and implement proactive solutions to climate stressors, but they may not capitalize on this opportunity to lead. This study explored the perceptions of Masters’ level social work educators, who set the tone and expectations for school social workers through curricula, towards the inclusion of leadership-related skills within school social work curriculum. A survey of educator administrators (n = 75) at Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited institutions examined leadership as defined through a combination of two proposed definitions for social work leadership, delineated by Holosko, 2009 and Hopson & …

Therapist, Intermediary Or Garbage Can? Examining Professional Challenges For School Social Work In Swedish Elementary Schools, Maria Kjellgren, Sara Lilliehorn, Urban Markström

International Journal of School Social Work

The overall aim of this article is to describe and analyse critical components that influence the role and performance of school social workers in the Swedish elementary school. Special attention will be paid to aspects related to formal regulations, professional self-understanding, and SSWs’ role in the interplay between professional domains involved in elementary school.

The data collection was conducted through four semi-structured qualitative focus group interviews with a total of 22 School Social Workers (SSWs) in four different regions in Sweden during the latter part of 2019.

The results reveal three main challenges for the SSW: 1. To …