Despite increasing acknowledgment that the social work profession must address environmental concerns, relatively little is known about the state of scholarship on environmental social work. This study provides a scientometric summary of peer-reviewed articles ( N = 497) pertaining to environmental topics in social work journals between 1991 and 2015. We find that theoretical and empirical scholarship on environmental social work is growing, though this growth remains limited to specific geographical regions and topics. We note the need to clarify the relationship between environmental social work as a theoretical paradigm and as a research topic.

This analysis seeks to bridge the differences between micro and macro practice within the context of the shared mission of social work. The search for common ground, given decades of specialization, includes the identification of the different ways that the two forms of practice can inform each other, describes core workplace skills relevant to interventions at the micro and macro levels of organizational and community life, and explores the need for bilingual capacities to enhance communications between both domains of social work practice. It concludes with implications for future curricular changes.

Addressing rural health disparities has unique challenges that require cross-sector collaborations to address social determinants of health and help those in need to get connected to care continuum. We brought the Clinical and Translational Science Award, Institutional Development Award Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research, and Cooperative Extension System Programs together for a one-day semi-structured meeting to discuss collaborative opportunities to address rural health disparities. Session notes and event materials were analyzed for themes to facilitate collaboration such as defining rural, critical issues, and organizational strengths in support of collaboration. Across 16 sessions, there were 26 broad topics of discussion. The most frequent topics included “barriers and challenges,” “strategies and opportunities,” and “defining rural.” There is a growing understanding of the opportunity that collaboration between these large programs provides in addressing rural health disparities.

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Social work responses to environmental degradation have sought to mitigate harm that has already occurred and create strategies to respond or adapt to environmental hazards. Despite a good deal of literature suggesting the promise of prevention-focused models, social workers have less frequently considered prevention models to address environmental issues. In this manuscript, we consider how communities engaged in environmentally-based prevention work might inform the development of ecosocial work practice. We describe how a prevention-focused agenda, in partnership with communities, can be a promising avenue for ecosocial work practice to address the root causes of environmental degradation and its social impacts.