Abstract:

General practitioners (GPs) often lack the time and resources to address the psychosocial or systemic issues affecting patients’ health. Social workers can significantly improve population health in primary care, but there are currently few social workers in GP clinics in Australia.

In this Northern Queensland Primary Health Network funded research, GP clinics were supported to hire and integrate social workers and social work students into their practices in this. Data collection sought to investigate the benefits and challenges of integrating social work practice into GP clinics. It included recorded social work interventions, a pre- and post-wellbeing scale, patient feedback, interviews and an evaluation survey at the end of the 1-year implementation phase.

In this presentation we are discussing the findings of various data collection strategies. Moreover, we are exploring the value of collaboratively undertaking research and including a Master’s student on the project.

Presenter biographies

Associate Professor Ines Zuchowski is a teaching/research academic in social work and the CASE Associate Dean, Research. Ines practice experience and research interest are particularly centred around, field education for social work students, child and youth welfare, violence prevention, professional development of supervision, and social justice and human rights. Her current research project explores social work and social work placements in GP settings.

Ms Lucia Heynck is currently a research student at James Cook University, where she is writing her Master's thesis on "Social Work in General Practice: A Qualitative Investigation of Social Workers' Perspectives in North Queensland." She is pursuing the study course “Social Work – Psychosocial Counseling and Mediation” at the University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein in Germany. Lucia brings valuable experience to her academic studies, having worked as a counsellor for people with mental health issues, as well as at a counselling station for survivors of sexual abuse. She has also gained valuable experience in out-of-home care services for young people.

How to join

Please join face to face in Townsville [004-225] or Cairns [A1-125] or use the zoom link https://jcu.zoom.us/j/81301306830?pwd=mqZitJ6kmMLCCMMNy9Barb6NRkbykU.1
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