ABSTRACT

Youth behavioral healthcare workforce shortages have inhibited the scale-up of evidence-based treatments to address longstanding unmet needs and inequitable service coverage. Task-shifting is a strategy that could bolster workforce shortages. Legal and regulatory barriers, such as scope of practice licensing regulations, have hampered the use of task-shifting. Social workers make up the majority of the behavioral healthcare workforce in the U.S. and most social workers provide services to children and families. As such, social workers would play a pivotal role in any scale-up effort. In this guest editorial, we discuss the importance of social work licensing and use a case example to illustrate the unintended consequences that certain licensing regulations have on scaling-up evidence-based treatments via task-shifting. We conclude with recommendations on how social workers could be involved in task-shifting efforts to scale-up evidence-based treatments.

摘要

青年行为医疗保健劳动力短缺阻碍了循证治疗的扩大，以解决长期未满足的需求和不公平的服务覆盖范围。任务转移是一种可能会加剧劳动力短缺的策略。法律和监管障碍，例如执业许可规定的范围，阻碍了任务转移的使用。社会工作者占美国行为医疗保健劳动力的大部分，大多数社会工作者为儿童和家庭提供服务。因此，社会工作者将在任何扩大规模的努力中发挥关键作用。在这篇客座社论中，我们讨论了社会工作许可的重要性，并使用一个案例来说明某些许可法规对通过任务转移扩大基于证据的治疗的意外后果。