Why Use Web Technology?

Why Use Web Technology? Let's start with practice:

• The police drop off a homeless man at your agency. He is extremely disoriented and tells you he has been blacking out, stumbling, and biting his tongue. He shows you a bottle labeled "Risperdol". He has been taking this medication for only a few days, but you can't find your PDR. Is it related to his problems? You can find out at: http://208.153.7.76/products/index.html

• You need to quickly develop a facts sheet on Parkinson’s Disease for a support group. You can develop a custom handout that includes the latest on research, treatment choices, pharmaceutical developments, and architectural adaptations. Begin at: http://pdweb.mgh.harvard.edu/

• The grant is due in the mail tomorrow, and you want fine-grained information on low income uninsured children for your county to show good command of the issues. You can find and include this information in about ten minutes: http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/lowinckid.html

The amount of practice information on the "Web" is staggering. We can research countless issues that were impossible just a few years ago. Yet the impediments to using web technology in daily practice are formidable. Many of our agencies are strapped for resources and some are hard pressed to afford FAX machines, much less internet-connected computers. If the technology isn’t available it can’t be used. Administrators and board members have to be convinced that technology will assist the agency in carrying out its mission if they are going to invest the monies needed to get social work staff access to the web.

Even when money isn’t the issue some of us view ourselves as "people persons" who don’t really relate to machines. We fail to recognize that we are quite dependent on machines like the telephone, the pager, the answering machine, the fax machine, and the work processor. None of us would refuse to use the telephone with its built in voice mail function because we were "people persons". Internet-connected computers on our desks are no different.

Others assert that since many social work clients don’t even have telephones, much less computers and there is no need to incorporate this technology into practice. Such thinking carried to its logical end would have agencies that work in low income communities ripping out their own phone systems. Lack of client accessibility is a serious issue that will only be compounded if social workers boycott cyberspace.

Using the above as excuses to avoid using the web to enhance social work practice is foolish and dangerous. Can you imagine a telephone-illiterate social worker? Computers are no different. They are only fancier communications machines, and they are becoming just as important. Like any technology they can be dangerous as well depending upon how they are used. Hince our column.

The information age is drastically changing the nature of social work practice. Finding diversity information, keeping abreast of the latest trends in legislation, or getting mentoring from colleagues can take tedious trips to the library, endless phone-tag, and plenty of in-service training sessions. All this can now be done immediately using a web-connected computer.

There are at lest three new roles that practitioners in cyberspace must fill. First, many clients really don't have computers and probably won't for some time if ever. This means that social workers will need to provide Internet access in agencies if the vast resources some client's need are going to be tapped. We often do this with telephones now. In this age information is power. Clients without access to web based information are and will be disempowered. This means that social workers need to advocate for getting the Web into the office and need to learn how to use it well.

Scared clients are poor evaluators of information. Those "miracle cure" and "we have all the answers" websites are very appealing. Stressed clients become vulnerable to quackery, misinformation and outright fraud. Social workers need to help people discern between genuine help, questionable resources, and rip-offs on the Web. This means social workers must develop new critical skills for evaluating web information.

Finally, the profession cannot advance without technology. Ancillary colleagues from other professions are embracing the Web at a fast clip. On-line counseling, continuing education, and crisis intervention services are emerging. If we fail to adapt the web into practice we risk becoming backwards: the arcane profession from the last century that never caught up.

So welcome to our column. In the coming issues we will present three regular segments:
An "Emerging Issues" section will present an issue social workers need to consider as we incorporate web technology into practice. A "Practice Tips" section will give web-related advice. We'll also include a "Websites to Visit" review that highlights selected websites of interest to social workers in Indiana.

Emerging Issues:

In August the NASW Delegate Assembly will be considering adopting a policy statement on Technology and Social Work. The policy statement will focus upon issues related to direct practice, both agency based and private practice, administration, professional education related to the technology, and research. In relation to direct practice, the traditional boundaries of time and space are dissolving in cyberspace. A social worker doing family counseling in South Bend can practice with a couple in Evansville, or Dayton, Ohio or Tokyo for that matter. Electronically mediated communications make it possible to establish therapeutic relationships, make assessments and referrals, monitor interventions, and provide assistance on literally a global basis. Supervision and mentoring is just as possible and wide-ranging. Yet ethical questions abound and need to be clarified. Social work licenses and certifications are state specific. There are no guidelines currently for how to handle the situation where a social worker licensed in Indiana is counseling a client in another state or country. The numerous dimensions and risks of confidentiality and liability have not been examined.

We suggest you contact your Chapter for more information as this is simply one facet of the many issues that will be considered. Discuss your concerns with your representatives to the Delegate Assembly.

Practice Tips:

You may find yourself dealing with an ethical issue from time to time. For instance, if an issue around privacy arises you may want to refer back to the NASW Code of Ethics. This can be done easily online.

There is no need to spend time rummaging through those paper files for your hard copy of the Code. In addition, by using the "Find " function in your browser you can look up references in the Code for privacy without having to read the entire document.

Try this:

This method will take you less time than leafing through a paper copy to find all of the Code’s references to privacy. The "Find" function can be a time saver whenever you are seeking specific information from a webpage with loads of text. Try stemming those long legislative proposals from the state to see what they've buried!

Websites to Visit:

United States and Canada:

Indiana: