Addressing injustices toward individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum conditions: a call to action for social work practice

The field of social work has a lengthy history of training social workers for community mental health settings, and an ethical commitment to advance human rights and social justice. However, individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum conditions continue to suffer from myriad social injustices, including poverty, social isolation, and lower-life expectancy. This paper outlines these injustices, and reviews historical social work contributions and current training for supporting this population. Finally, the authors outline actions to 1) adopt national practice guidelines that formally acknowledge injustices, including anti-oppressive practice guidelines that are inclusive of lived experience, and 2) revitalize social work’s contributions to models of care for schizophrenia-spectrum populations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Social Work in Mental Health
Published
2025-12-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2025.2596115
Primary Topic
Mental Health and Patient Involvement
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Addressing injustices toward individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum conditions: a call to action for social work practice

Shannon Blajeski, Shelly Ben‐David, Patricia R. Turner, Matthew J. Smith et al.
Social Work in Mental Health
Mental Health and Patient Involvement
article

Addressing injustices toward individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum conditions: a call to action for social work practice

Shannon Blajeski, Shelly Ben‐David, Patricia R. Turner, Matthew J. Smith, Jordan DeVylder, Ana T. Flores, Lynette Studer, Lindsay A. Bornheimer, Nev Jones, Jessica A. Wojtalik
article en

Abstract

The field of social work has a lengthy history of training social workers for community mental health settings, and an ethical commitment to advance human rights and social justice. However, individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum conditions continue to suffer from myriad social injustices, including poverty, social isolation, and lower-life expectancy. This paper outlines these injustices, and reviews historical social work contributions and current training for supporting this population. Finally, the authors outline actions to 1) adopt national practice guidelines that formally acknowledge injustices, including anti-oppressive practice guidelines that are inclusive of lived experience, and 2) revitalize social work’s contributions to models of care for schizophrenia-spectrum populations.

Social Work in Mental Health
Portland State University (US), Sanden (Japan) (JP), University of British Columbia (CA), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US), University of Pittsburgh (US), University of Michigan (US), New York University (US), Case Western Reserve University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 45%
Mental Health and Patient Involvement
DOISourceOpenAlex
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