About the Journal

"Sport Social Work is a subfield of social work that promotes social justice and social change by focusing on the unique needs of athletes at both an individual and environmental level. Sport social workers promote the health and well-being of athletes through direct practice, community organizing, advocacy, policy development, education, and research. Sport social workers seek to enhance the capabilities of athletes to address their own behavioral health and psychosocial needs. They encourage athletes to be advocates for change. They also encourage athletic organizations, communities, and other social institutions to recognize athletes as a vulnerable population and to join in the fight to reduce the challenges present in athletics. At the heart of these efforts is a focus on athlete development and wellness. A social worker achieves this focus through the competencies of the social work profession and through adherence to the values and ethics of the social work profession" (Moore & Gummelt, 2018).

Our vision is to promote individual and community well-being through sports by providing scholarly information on the intersection of sports and social work practice, theory and research. This includes raising awareness of the challenges that athletes face throughout the life course, identifying inherent strengths athletes possess and displaying how social workers can assist athletes in utilizing their strengths to meet these challenges. 

To achieve our mission and vision, SSWJ will:

• Advocate for the advancement of social justice and change through research that occurs at the intersection of social work (and related professions) and sport.

• Create awareness of the vulnerabilities that athletes face throughout the life course such as mental and behavioral health concerns.

• Educate coaches, administrators, and other leaders within athletic communities on issues surrounding the well-being and development of athletes.

• Provide an outlet for scholarly discussion on the ways in which specific social work (and related professional) frameworks can be best implemented to aid athletic communities.

• Maintain a holistic scope by publishing volumes that display diversity and multiple-perspectives on research.

• Publish research with the goal of informing social work practice at the micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels of athletic communities.

• Publish empirical-research that promotes and enhances the use of social work values, knowledge, and approaches within the athletic community.