ABSTRACT
Interprofessional collaboration, or interdisciplinarity, is a core feature of social work practices. The discipline of social work has a long interdisciplinary history, drawing from various disciplines such as sociology, psychology, or organizational studies. However, explicit education in interprofessional collaboration is relatively recent. This chapter will introduce definitions, conceptual models, and recognized strategies for interprofessional collaboration education in the context of university social work departments, and in partnership with other disciplines. To this end, it will address andragogical strategies, didactic approaches, and organizational forms that support initial and continuous training in interprofessional collaboration. We focus on the relationship between social work and healthcare disciplines for two main reasons. First, the healthcare environment structures the work routines of most social workers. Second, the discipline of social work and healthcare experience intersecting identity tensions that need to be re-examined. This chapter also situates current or emerging empirical forms through which interprofessional collaboration applies in social work such as coordination or integration of services. Finally, we reflect on the roles that service users play in modern education and training systems for interprofessional collaboration in social work. The emergence of education in interprofessional collaboration therefore appears to be a current condition for the modernization of social work.
