TY - JOUR
AU - B. A. Martin-Giacalone
AU - S. Weng
A1 - 
AB - To improve patient health, health care systems are increasingly integrating services that address social needs into medical care. Social workers often catalyze this process, yet the roles and challenges of social workers in integrated health care settings are poorly understood. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, we employed purposive sampling and conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty social workers who were employed on interdisciplinary teams within integrated health care settings. Three themes emerged: 1) the role of social workers and their unique presence in health care settings; 2) collaboration and the importance of communication for effective collaboration; and 3) the ethical differences among health professionals on integrated health care teams. With greater calls for integrated health care, especially to address patients' unmet social and behavioral needs, the challenges and strategies identified in this paper can assist interdisciplinary teams with improving interprofessional teamwork, interdisciplinary training, and social, behavioral, and holistic care integration in medical settings.
AD - Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.; School of Social Work, California State University at Long Beach, Long Beach, California, USA.
AN - 40062732
BT - Soc Work Public Health
C5 - Education & Workforce
CP - 5
DO - 10.1080/19371918.2025.2471381
DP - NLM
ET - 20250310
IS - 5
JF - Soc Work Public Health
LA - eng
N2 - To improve patient health, health care systems are increasingly integrating services that address social needs into medical care. Social workers often catalyze this process, yet the roles and challenges of social workers in integrated health care settings are poorly understood. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, we employed purposive sampling and conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty social workers who were employed on interdisciplinary teams within integrated health care settings. Three themes emerged: 1) the role of social workers and their unique presence in health care settings; 2) collaboration and the importance of communication for effective collaboration; and 3) the ethical differences among health professionals on integrated health care teams. With greater calls for integrated health care, especially to address patients' unmet social and behavioral needs, the challenges and strategies identified in this paper can assist interdisciplinary teams with improving interprofessional teamwork, interdisciplinary training, and social, behavioral, and holistic care integration in medical settings.
PY - 2025
SN - 1937-1918 (Print); 1937-190x
SP - 277
EP - 287+
ST - Interdisciplinary Team Roles and Challenges in Integrated Health Care Settings: Social Workers' Perspectives
T1 - Interdisciplinary Team Roles and Challenges in Integrated Health Care Settings: Social Workers' Perspectives
T2 - Soc Work Public Health
TI - Interdisciplinary Team Roles and Challenges in Integrated Health Care Settings: Social Workers' Perspectives
U1 - Education & Workforce
U3 - 10.1080/19371918.2025.2471381
VL - 40
VO - 1937-1918 (Print); 1937-190x
Y1 - 2025
ER -