Relatively little is known about social workers in interprofessional primary healthcare (PHC) teams, despite social work being one of the largest health and social service professions. Understanding the experiences of social workers in PHC teams will help strengthen the integration of social workers in these settings.
This report describes the complex, generalist roles of social workers in primary health care settings and demonstrates how this work advances the goals of primary health care. It describes challenges experienced by social workers in primary care settings and outlines a vision for the future in which social workers are embedded in all primary care teams and accessible to everyone in Canada; social workers work to full scope and are equitably compensated; and the value of social work in primary care is clearly demonstrated through robust data collection and linkage.
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