Background: Substance use is currently a pervasive problem among a large proportion of populations served by the social work profession. Several studies have indicated that social workers routinely provide services to clients with direct and indirect substance use needs, making knowledge of substance use interventions and public policies a necessity for social workers to operate effectively in the field. However, despite the regularity of interaction with substance using clients, previous research has suggested that a significant deficit of substance use education currently exists in Master of Social Work (MSW) programs. Methods: To determine the extent of substance use education currently offered by master's-level schools of social work, a content analysis of course listings and full-time faculty profiles was performed on all Council on Social Work Education–accredited programs in the United States ( N = 263). The goals of the content analysis were (1) to identify the current prevalence and content of substance use education offered to entire cohorts of MSW students at the national and programmatic levels and (2) to examine the capacity of the full-time MSW faculty workforce to deliver substance use education to MSW students in individual programs. Results: The results of the analyses showed that a significant deficit of formal substance use education does exist in the field of social work education, and that a large proportion of programs lack the faculty personnel necessary to sufficiently offer substance use education to their students. Conclusions: The social work profession needs to make a concerted effort to improve substance use education if social work is to ethically and effectively remain at the forefront of mental health practice in the United States.

Although social workers have an elevated risk of infection with COVID-19, no previous studies have investigated the virus’s impact on practitioners. Using survey data (N = 441), this study identified associations between stress, depression, and COVID-related factors and explored the role of social connectedness as a moderator for mental health among Ohio social workers. The results of the study showed that among social workers with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, 70 percent experienced moderate/high levels of stress, and 37 percent met the criteria for clinical depressive symptoms. Results from the multiple regression analyses showed that perceived stress was positively associated with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis for social workers, and depression was positively associated with working with a client with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis. An interaction effect was also identified between social connectedness and social workers’ mental health. These findings suggest that the provision of individual or organizational interventions that emphasize social connectedness can help to protect social workers’ mental health.

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Workplace policies are important because employee rates of alcohol and drug misuse can be associated with work-related risk factors in the United States. To explore the associations, this study analyzed the 2010–2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health datasets. The overall sample size was 130,726, and the SUD outcome variables included alcohol, marijuana, pain reliever, and illicit drug use disorders. 20% of participants reported no substance use policies in their workplace. Significant associations were identified between all four measured SUD outcome variables, the presence of specific substance use workplace policies, and individual employment sectors. Specifically, comprehensive policies out of six policies were significantly associated with decreased SUDs in nearly every employment sector. The results of this study suggest that workplace substance use policies are important to prevent the development of employee SUDs and comprehensive policies in place can be most effective.