Journal of Digital Health and AI Healthcare
Research Article Volume: 1 & Issue: 1
Abstract
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into mental health care represents a transformative paradigm shift with profound implications for clinical social work practice. This paper presents a comprehensive examination of the opportunities, ethical challenges, and practice implications of AI integration in clinical social work. Drawing on contemporary research, regulatory developments, and professional position statements, the paper argues that clinical social workers have an ethical imperative to engage critically with AI technologies rather than retreat from them. The researcher explores applications including predictive risk assessment, therapeutic chatbots, and clinical decision support systems, while critically examining concerns related to algorithmic bias, data privacy, therapeutic alliance, professional scope of practice, and the erosion of human-centered care. The paper proposes a framework for ethically grounded AI integration grounded in social work values of self-determination, social justice, and the primacy of the therapeutic relationship. The researcher concludes that the future of clinical social work depends on proactively shaping AI development and deployment to serve vulnerable populations while safeguarding the profession’s core values.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Clinical Social Work, Digital Mental Health, Therapeutic Alliance, Algorithmic Bias, Professional Ethics, Evidence-Based Practice.