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Finish line or starting shot? - analyzing the introduction of a professional license and Master's in Healthcare Counseling programs in Sweden
Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Örebro University, School of Behavioural, Social and Legal Sciences.ORCID iD: 0009-0003-1667-4368
2025 (English)In: Social Work Education, ISSN 0261-5479, E-ISSN 1470-1227Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This article focuses on the current professionalization process of health social work in Sweden, where the professional group-the first among social workers-has been granted a license requiring a specialist master's degree. The aim of this article is to analyze the experienced and expected effects of these changes. The empirical material consists of focus groups of health social workers who act as supervisors for students, as well as individual interviews with key persons at the first three universities offering the master's degree. The material has been thematically analyzed. Among the effects analyzed are jurisdictional clarity, strengthened professional self-esteem, and a strengthened knowledge base. These benefits are mirrored by potential drawbacks that include a lack of change in status or knowledge base, depending on how employers value the license, which students will apply and how the master's degree will be evaluated. The analysis shows that health social workers primarily expect validating effects on the profession. By contrast, the key persons expect to see changes: enhancing the use of research in practice and paving the way for further specializations in social work. These different standpoints highlight a potential conflict regarding the value of different types of knowledge in the process of professionalization.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2025.
Keywords [en]
Health social work, license, further education, professionalization, knowledge
National Category
Educational Sciences Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-120680DOI: 10.1080/02615479.2025.2488471ISI: 001465437200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105002658143OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-120680DiVA, id: diva2:1953851
Available from: 2025-04-23 Created: 2025-04-23 Last updated: 2025-04-23Bibliographically approved

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Hjortgren, Katarina

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CiteExportLink to record
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  • apa
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