Social Work Leadership Competencies for Practice amid Crisis: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Leadership skills are a critical component of effective social work practice in interdisciplinary healthcare and mental healthcare settings. Over the last two decades there has been increased attention to the importance of social work leadership skills for clinical practice. Moreover, social workers display essential leadership skills when supporting individuals and communities amid large-scale crises such as pandemics, natural disasters, wars, and other sociopolitical crises. Currently, there is an absence of literature on social work leadership skills for effective practice in healthcare and mental healthcare settings during times of crisis. To bridge this knowledge gap, this scoping review aimed to synthesize and map the current literature on social work leadership competencies in healthcare and mental healthcare amid crises. Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework for scoping reviews guided this project. Six academic databases were searched, and a total of nine articles met inclusion criteria. A thematic analysis was conducted to identify recurrent themes among these articles. Results highlight that leadership was defined as both a role and a skill set, and identified collaboration, connection, and shared learning as key leadership competencies for social workers. Implications for social work practice, education, and research are discussed.