Scoping review of social workers’ professional roles in primary care

Objectives Maximising social workers’ contributions to primary care requires clarity about their scope of practice in this context. This scoping review sought to clarify what is known about social work’s scope of practice in primary care settings.

Results Results indicate that primary care social workers advance comprehensive, patient-centred, continuity of care and benefit both patients and other providers within primary care teams. Social workers undertake a range of roles, activities and functions in primary care settings—spanning direct patient care, team processes and community engagement. Social workers in primary care are involved in supporting patients with a robust range of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as other acute and chronic health conditions. Most social workers are physically co-located within a team and are collaborating with a wide range of providers within and outside of the team.

Conclusions This scoping review contributes clarity about social work’s capacity for enhancing the delivery of primary care. Social work’s role in primary care facilitates comprehensive, continuous and patient-centred care that improves the experiences of both patients and teams. Social work clinicians, leaders and scholars are encouraged to seek out opportunities to participate in and undertake research identifying these contributions to primary care.