Digital social group work: evolution, state of the art and renewed research agenda

Abstract

This chapter systematically reviews the social work scholarly literature to investigate the origins, evolution and state of the art of digital social work with groups. Two academic databases “Social Work Abstracts” and “Social Services Abstracts” were explored to identify the most relevant papers on this topic in the period from the early 1990s to the present. A total of 167 papers were selected and analyzed. The results highlight the main trends and changes in e-social group work in the selected time period. The analysis also classifies the types of papers published, the most relevant authors, the needs or problems focused on, the types of groups developed and the technologies that were employed. The chapter questions if the accelerated and widespread digitization arising from COVID-19 has had any significant impact on e-social group work reports. The chapter ends by proposing a renewed agenda for the specialized field of digital social work with groups among practitioners, researchers and educators. Special emphasis is also placed on how the social work curriculum can best prepare students to meet the anticipated future demand for online social work practice with groups in the years to come.