Scaling up Evidence-based Treatments in Youth Behavioral Healthcare: Social Work Licensing Influences on Task-shifting Opportunities

Youth behavioral healthcare workforce shortages have inhibited the scale-up of evidence-based treatments to address longstanding unmet needs and inequitable service coverage. Task-shifting is a strategy that could bolster workforce shortages. Legal and regulatory barriers, such as scope of practice...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Administration in social work 2021-10, Vol.45 (5), p.375-388
Main Authors: Hooley, Cole, Graaf, Genevieve, Gopalan, Geetha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
behavioral health
children and youth
Health services
Licenses
Licensing
occupational licensing
scale-up
Scarcity
Social services
Social work
social work licensing
Social workers
task-shifting
Treatment methods
Workforce
Youth
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Summary:Youth behavioral healthcare workforce shortages have inhibited the scale-up of evidence-based treatments to address longstanding unmet needs and inequitable service coverage. Task-shifting is a strategy that could bolster workforce shortages. Legal and regulatory barriers, such as scope of practice licensing regulations, have hampered the use of task-shifting. Social workers make up the majority of the behavioral healthcare workforce in the U.S. and most social workers provide services to children and families. As such, social workers would play a pivotal role in any scale-up effort. In this guest editorial, we discuss the importance of social work licensing and use a case example to illustrate the unintended consequences that certain licensing regulations have on scaling-up evidence-based treatments via task-shifting. We conclude with recommendations on how social workers could be involved in task-shifting efforts to scale-up evidence-based treatments.
ISSN:2330-3131
2330-314X
DOI:10.1080/23303131.2021.1970069