Social work and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE): A scoping review protocol

09/09/2026

AI Summary

Violent extremism persists across social and digital environments, driven by complex vulnerabilities and causing severe, intergenerational traumatic harms.
Social work involvement in P/CVE is conceptually limited and geographically dispersed, creating uncertainty and practical challenges for professionals.
This scoping review seeks to map research, identify gaps, and inform future directions to strengthen social work theory and practice in P/CVE.

AI Summary

In today's hybrid and digitally connected world, hate and violent extremism persist across social and digital environments worldwide, driven by complex radicalization pathways that emerge among individuals and groups often driven by grievance and complex vulnerability.

As governments increasingly adopt social care and public health approaches to prevent and counter violent extremism and associated harms, a gap has emerged in understanding how social workers describe their roles, theoretical frameworks, and practice experiences in what has become known as the field of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE).

It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of elements, findings, and practice-relevant limitations and opportunities on social work and P/CVE and contributes to both the development of a nuanced understanding of an emerging social work practice field while also furthering the knowledge base and theory of P/CVE.

Basic summary

PLoS One. 2026 Sep 9;21(9):e0357887. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0357887. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

In today’s hybrid and digitally connected world, hate and violent extremism persist across social and digital environments worldwide, driven by complex radicalization pathways that emerge among individuals and groups often driven by grievance and complex vulnerability. In addition to their most violent expressions, including hate crimes, extremist and terrorist violence, these phenomena wield severe negative, detrimental, traumatic, and intergenerational impacts. As governments increasingly adopt social care and public health approaches to prevent and counter violent extremism and associated harms, a gap has emerged in understanding how social workers describe their roles, theoretical frameworks, and practice experiences in what has become known as the field of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Problematically so, social work research and scholarship regarding P/CVE seems to remain limited conceptually and geographically dispersed, leading to uncertainty and practical challenges for professionals in the field. To date, no scoping review has been conducted to systematically assess, synthesize, and discuss social work research related to P/CVE. Against this backdrop, the objective of this scoping review is to identify the current research landscape, gaps, and future directions regarding social work and P/CVE. It aims to provide a comprehensive overview of elements, findings, and practice-relevant limitations and opportunities on social work and P/CVE and contributes to both the development of a nuanced understanding of an emerging social work practice field while also furthering the knowledge base and theory of P/CVE.

PMID:42715169 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0357887

Document this CPD