Social work informatics: a new specialty

The use of technology in social work practice has risen dramatically over the past 10 years. Clinical interventions such as psychotherapy using telephones, interactive video, and the Internet are gaining in popularity. For a discipline traditionally tied to face-to-face interaction, many concerns about moving to technology-based practices have been raised. The National Association of SocialWorkers recently embraced a new initiative to address the challenges associated with technology in practice.The authors propose social work informatics as a new specialty for the profession to assist in meeting those challenges.