Over the last few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on social work practice due to increasing complexities of clients, transitioning to the virtual environment, adapting in-person services, and taking care of their own well-being. We would like to invite you to take part in a survey examining social work practice within primary care teams across Ontario. Our goal is to offer recommendations on how best to organize social work practice in primary care teams.

Dr. Rachelle Ashcroft, an Assistant Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, is the lead investigator for this research study titled The Structure of Social Work Practice in Ontario Family Health Teams: A Mixed-Methods Study. This study involves a provincial-wide survey and semi-structured focus groups with discussions focused on examining the daily practice of social workers in FHTs during the pandemic. Participants will be social workers working in primary care teams located across Ontario.

Participants will be asked to complete a survey asking about the role of social work, the current and optimal state of practice, and social work leadership. At the end, participants can express their interest in taking part of a focus group. Each focus group will last 60 minutes and consist of social workers working in various team-based, primary care settings. Prior to participating in the study, each participant will be asked to review the consent information. All focus group data will be confidential, and no individuals will be identified in our study results.

Thank you for considering participation in this study and we look forward to hearing from you! Should you have any questions, please contact Rachelle Ashcroft at rachelle.ashcroft@utoronto.ca.