Social workers in mental health. Epistemological identities and preferences among social workers

Mental health has become an interprofessional service. Historically, differences between professionals in their epistemological orientation toward mental illness and treatment have created substantial tension. However, there are little empirical evidence about professional's epistemological identity. In this article, we first discuss the important relationship between epistemology, practice and ethic and report the results from a survey based on a Norwegian sample (N = 432) of social workers. The overall finding is that social workers seem to be more eclectic than specific in their epistemological orientation and that the eclecticism seems to express epistemological indifference rather than a conscious choice.