Social Workers’ Perspectives Regarding the DSM: Implications for Social Work Education

Abstract

There is a decades-old debate in social work regarding the appropriateness of the use o f the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual o f Mental Disorders (DSM) by clinicians in this profession. Despite often con tentious perspectives, there has been very little study regarding clinical social workers' experiences, attitudes, and beliefs about the use of the DSM in their work. In this qualitative inquiry, 20 clinical social workers who had recently completed master's of social work coursework and were working with children were interviewed using grounded theory methods. Results of the inquiry are presented and implications for social work education are discussed.

Identifying Barriers to implementing the DSM-5 in the diagnosis process of Autism Spectrum Disorder in two Arab countries

“…Respondents also cited difficulty understanding the DSM language as a significant barrier to the effective implementation of the DSM-5 within institutions. These barriers were rated most significant, which is consistent with other studies conducted (Raffoul & Holmes, 1986;Ishibashi, 2005;Clemmons, Dannenfelser, & Newman, 2007;Frazer, Westhuis, Daley, & Phillips, 2009;Lyter & Lyter, 2012;Washburn, 2013;McLendon, 2014;Lyter & Lyter, 2015;and Tosone, 2015) Additionally, study findings show that the second top ranked category of barriers, as identified by social workers in Egypt and Qatar, were institutional and organizational in nature. For instance, respondents reported the infrastructure of the institution to be unsuitable for the application of DSM-5 with children.…”

“…Participants also reported that the institution's policy encouraged the use of diagnostic tools besides the DSM-5. This is supported by studies conducted (McLendon, 2010;Washburn, 2013;Hitchens & Becker, 2014;McLendon, 2014;(Lyter & Lyter, 2015).…”