Staniforth, BarbaraAdamson, CaroleNelson, Anna2023-04-042023-04-042022https://hdl.handle.net/2292/63455Use of alcohol and other drugs is embedded in many of our social and cultural customs, norms, and practices. Most people who use these substances will do so with little harm to themselves or others (Galvani, 2015; Royal Society of Arts (RSA), 2007). Unfortunately, however, substance use harm can affect personal, emotional, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing; relationships with partners, families and whānau; and the community (Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, 2018; Kolind et al., 2017; New Zealand Drug Foundation, 2020). Social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand do work with people, whānau and communities experiencing substance use harm. While there are no data available that tell us how many generic (non-addiction specialist) social workers are currently working with substance use harm in Aotearoa New Zealand, substance use harm is well recognised as a problem in a range of social work settings and for a variety of service user groups overseas (Caldwell, 2007; Daley & Feit, 2013; Dance et al., 2014; Graves et al., 2009; Hutchinson & Allnock, 2014; Kourgiantakis, Sewell, McNeil et al., 2020; Mekonnen & Lee, 2021). There are concerns that there is currently inadequate addiction education, knowledge and skills taught in qualifying social work programmes to ensure social workers, regardless of practice setting, feel like they are able to practise in this area effectively (Callon et al., 2018; Dance et al., 2014; Galvani & Forrester, 2011; Hutchinson & Allnock, 2014; Kourgiantakis, Sewell, McNeil et al., 2020; Mekonnen & Lee, 2021; Minnick, 2019, Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB), 2022). For social workers in generic practice to work with substance use harm more effectively, all qualifying social workers should receive some addiction-focused preparation for work in this area. Using the Delphi technique (Keeney et al., 2011), with 35 “experts” in the area, this research identifies the knowledge, skills, values, and attributes required by generic social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand when they work with substance use harm, regardless of the setting or service user group. A 4 focused practice framework (The Nīkau Practice Framework) is presented to organise the findings of this research. This research, and The Nīkau Practice Framework arising from it, affirm that social workers are ideally positioned to work with substance use harm in communities and with families, whānau and individuals. The Nīkau Practice Framework outlines the values, attributes, knowledge, reflective practice, theories, models, and skills required for generic social work practice with substance use harm. It is recommended that the Nīkau Practice Framework is embedded and integrated into qualifying social work programmes to help to ensure that generic social workers have the capability to do this work effectively and with confidence.Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htmhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/Thesis2023-01-25Copyright: The authorhttp://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess