ABSTRACT

There has been increased attention to mental health programing in collegiate athletics. Social workers are one type of professional that can provide mental health care in the collegiate athletics, but there is limited research on social work practice in a sport setting. Thus, the purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of licensed social workers in a college sport setting. The thematic analysis of interviews with nine social workers produced four themes: (a) in-milieu work; (b) athletic performance; (c) misconceptions; and (d) indirect career path. The findings suggest that in-milieu style work helped social workers build positive relationships with other staff members. However, there was also a misunderstanding of the social workers’ role and no direct career path. Furthermore, the social workers discussed doing some type of performance enhancement work. These results have implications both for programing decisions by athletic departments and also for the social work profession.

摘要

人们越来越关注大学体育运动中的心理健康计划。社会工作者是一种可以在大学体育运动中提供心理健康护理的专业人士，但对体育环境中的社会工作实践的研究有限。因此，本研究的目的是探索有执照的社会工作者在大学体育环境中的经历。对九名社会工作者访谈的专题分析产生了四个主题：(a) 环境工作；(b) 运动表现；(c) 误解；(d) 间接职业道路。研究结果表明，环境式工作有助于社会工作者与其他工作人员建立积极的关系。然而，也存在对社工角色的误解，没有直接的职业道路。此外，社会工作者讨论了做某种类型的绩效提升工作。这些结果对体育部门和社会工作专业的规划决策都有影响。