Barriers to advocacy for recovery and wellbeing: a mixed methods study of challenges faced by mental health hospital social workers in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Although advocacy is a key process in social work practice, there is a dearth of research on the constraints experienced in engaging in this process. Drawing on a larger project on frontline social workers’ advocacy practices, this paper focuses on barriers hospital mental health social workers face as they advocate against systemic inequity and support recovery for clients with serious mental illness. Using descriptive statistics and reflexive thematic analyses of an online survey (n = 43) and in-depth interviews (n = 12), this article presents the intertwined macro, mezzo, and micro-level barriers social workers encounter as they advocate to promote client, family, and community wellbeing.

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