What Role Do Social Workers Play in Health and Nutrition?

Social workers play a critical role when it comes to health and nutrition across various settings. Social work is a multi-faceted job in the allied health industry, with over 35,000 currently employed in Australia, working in settings from hospitals and schools to private practices and government departments.

If you’re working as a social worker or studying to obtain a Master of Social Work qualification, it’s important to understand how this role interacts with nutrition and health. Social workers are critical when it comes to supporting people with their health and dietary choices. For example, a poor diet could lead to chronic pain and mental health issues.

From in-depth assessments and evaluations of their clients’ health to supporting their clients with lifestyle choices and navigating the healthcare system—social workers are irreplaceable. Our article will cover their role in the healthcare system, how they assist their clients, and how they interact with nutrition.

Assessment & Planning

Social workers typically create comprehensive assessments of their clients’ health—this allows them to develop personalised care plans. This also assists the social worker in gaining better insight into their clients’ well-being, history, and any social determinants—such as income, housing, and education.

Based on this assessment, a plan is devised to assist the client in overcoming any of the challenges or obstacles they are facing. In relation to health and nutrition, this could be an eating disorder, chronic illness, or mental health.

When a social worker conducts an assessment, there are a few goals they aim to achieve in the process. This is helping their client achieve the best personal outcome for their personal and social well-being, working towards social justice, as well as helping the client connect with their personal tools and external resources for a better life.

Education & Advocacy

Educating clients is one of the top roles of a social worker. Promoting health literacy is important so clients can understand their own health and needs and so they can access health services and resources. Statistics have shown that high health literacy is linked to positive health outcomes.

Health literacy doesn’t have a strict definition and is usually separated into two components. The first is individual health literacy, which refers to the skills, knowledge, and capacity someone has to gain, understand, and apply information when making decisions about their health and health care.

The second component is the health literacy environment—which refers to the infrastructure, policies, processes, materials, people, and relationships that make up a healthcare system. The health literacy environment also extends to accessibility to the system, the healthcare decision-making process, and people’s ability to understand the healthcare system.

It is part of the role of a social worker to educate and foster a good space for individual health literacy and an easy-to-understand health literacy environment.

For instance, when it comes to health and nutrition, a social worker would educate their clients on healthy eating, disease prevention, and the importance of lifestyle choices on diet, and give clients the skills they need to connect with relevant resources or services.

The healthcare system can be complex and difficult to navigate in the best of times. If an individual is already in a vulnerable position or struggling with their health, it can be a difficult challenge to go through the healthcare system without someone to educate you, improve your health literacy, and advocate on your behalf.

Additionally, social workers can also help speak on behalf of their clients. This is especially crucial in healthcare settings—for example, a hospital or a check-up with a doctor—to ensure their clients’ information and medical history are properly handed over to the medical professional.

Education is also extremely important when it comes to clients for nutrition and any related treatments or plans. It’s been shown that higher health literacy in nutrition typically results in better outcomes when it comes to clients sticking to treatments and plans correctly.

A good example of how a social worker might advocate for health and nutrition is through activism and increasing awareness. For instance, when it comes to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, a social worker may help decrease stigma and harmful ideals and speak up about the importance of realistic body portrayal on social media.

Resource Navigation

One of the most common roles for a social worker is to help their clients navigate resources, connect them with the right services, and educate them with assistance programs such as food banks to ensure they get the right nutrition.

Social workers are trained in resource navigation and play a crucial role in connecting their clients with community resources and professional programs. Without them, the clients may not even realize the aid exists or how to access it.

Counseling & Support

Social workers can also offer counseling as well as provide mental health support to their clients. Emotional well-being is linked so closely with physical health and nutrition that you can’t discuss one without the other.

Research has shown that physical health and diet play a massive factor in mental health. Another factor to consider is diet-related diseases and the impact that can have on someone’s quality of life—for example, imbalanced diets can result in diabetes or chronic kidney disease, which would impact an individual’s health and overall emotional well-being.

Currently, Australia and the world are facing a shortage when it comes to mental health professionals—the counseling and support that social workers provide are essential. For many people, mental health support might be inaccessible, and the only professional they can seek emotional support and information from is their social worker.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics report that 42.9% of people aged 16–85 years have experienced a mental disorder at some point in their life. It’s an alarmingly high percentage, which has been driven up due to the pandemic.

Social workers can play a crucial role in people seeking assistance and a plan for managing their mental health or a disorder, especially for youth.