A Survey of Trauma Education in Social Work Programs in the United States and Canada

In the past 2 decades, social work education has increasingly advocated for inclusion of trauma-related content in educational programming. Yet, to date, little is known about the current state of trauma education and training in social work programs. The aim of this study is to describe trauma education and training in accredited, North American social work programs. The data are from an online survey of 192 social work educators from 165 universities with accredited social work programs in the United States (n=151) and Canada (n=14). Participants were asked whether trauma-specific education is offered, and if so, to provide the formats used to deliver the content, the type of curriculum used, and evaluation efforts. Most programs (67.9%) reported integrating trauma education into existing courses, with 61.4% of BSW programs and 65.4% of MSW programs offering some form of trauma education. Results suggest that social work educators are recognizing the importance of including trauma education in their programming. However, more evaluation is needed to identify specific trauma content being presented.