A national survey of approved social workers in the UK: Information, communication and training needs

This is a national study assessing the communication, information and training needs of approved social workers (ASWs) in the UK. Postal questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 200, attached to community mental health teams. A total of 111 ASWs returned the questionnaire (56 per cent response rate). Descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple logistic regression were used in the analysis. Participants reported to be mostly in contact with community psychiatric nurses (73 per cent), psychiatrists (57 per cent) and other ASWs (22 per cent). Eighty-two percent and 74 per cent reported other ASWs and community psychiatric nurses respectively to be 'quite/extremely' helpful when consulted. GPs ranked last in terms of ease of access to, and extent of helpfulness: 11 per cent thought accessing GPs was 'not at all' difficult, and 24 per cent thought GPs were 'quite/extremely' helpful. Seventy percent reported needing more training for managing severe cases, and 76 per cent indicated they had information needs. Being in the profession for less than 11 years (OR = 3.0; 95 per cent CI = 1.03, 8.98), needing information on statutory services (OR = 3.47; 95 per cent CI = 0.98, 13.92), needing information on admission to NHS hospitals (OR = 4.34; 95 per cent CI = 0.97, 19.50), needing information on mental health law (OR = 8.64, 95 per cent CI = 2.76, 27.09), having no contact with GPs (OR = 10.31; 95 per cent CI = 1.28, 83.24), and having no contact with community psychiatric nurses (OR = 3.13; 95 per cent CI = 0.96, 10.22) were significant predictors of having training needs. This survey highlighted the importance of addressing the communication, information and training needs of ASWs in order for these professionals to maintain their competence.