Discovering health social work in New Zealand in its published work: Implications for the profession

Social work in health care has been a significant field of practice within social work in New Zealand since the 1940s. This paper reports on a project inspired by a fruitless search for a current discussion on the development of health social work in New Zealand. Analysis of a bibliographic search reveals an interesting history of health social work, as it emerged as an extension of the nursing role. Five distinct periods of development are identified through analysis of the literature. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of challenges and opportunities for health social work.