Digital technologies in social work: an umbrella review

Digital technologies are increasingly integral to social work, shaping communication, documentation, decision-making and client-social worker relationships. Despite a growing body of research in this field, no umbrella review has yet synthesised findings from existing systematic reviews. This study provides a comprehensive overview of 24 reviews published between 2014 and 2025, examining digital technologies across diverse social work domains, including child welfare, mental health, migration and elderly care. Our analysis addressed three dimensions: (1) descriptive characteristics of the reviews, (2) ontological assumptions about the nature of digital technologies in social work, and (3) epistemological claims regarding their role and impact. Findings reveal that most reviews emphasise a strengths-versus-challenges framing of digital technologies, often privileging practitioner perspectives while overlooking client experiences. Although digital tools were found to enhance accessibility, communication and efficiency, persistent challenges include system design misalignments, ethical concerns, digital inequalities and practitioner fatigue. A notable gap lies in the limited theoretical engagement with technology, with few reviews applying conceptual frameworks such as hybridity or ethics of care. We argue that future research should move beyond binary framings, incorporate service-user perspectives, and develop stronger conceptual models that capture the sociotechnical complexity of technology-mediated social work.