SWK 677 - Foundations of e-Social Work Practice

This course provides an overview of telebehavioral health practice delivery and its role in the field of social work. The course outlines various desktop computing and mobile technologies that are used to mediate social work practice activities. Populations that are currently receiving telebehavioral health services and the types of services being delivered will be reviewed, as well as the strengths and limitations of these services. In addition to a focus on individual and group-based services, examination will include how and why telebehavioral health develops within organizations and how organizations can evaluate the effectiveness of the telebehavioral health services being provided. Use of technology to deliver social work practice activities poses a range of ethical, legal, privacy and other risk-management issues. The course will examine how social workers can respond to these issues to protect their clients and practice ethically. This will include the production of a practice model that includes a plan for managing privacy, information security and mediating social presence through technology in telebehavioral health practice.