Background: The core competencies for the Bachelor’s program in Health Social Work were first developed in 2016. In 2023, the core competencies were revised in collaboration with international experts through the Fulbright Specialist Program. The updated framework includes nine general and 40 sub-competencies, with an emphasis on training social workers to provide person-centered, integrated services within the health sector. There is a need to further improve the current undergraduate curriculum by aligning with the updated core competencies. Aim: This study aimed to assess the alignment between the current undergraduate health social work curriculum and the revised core competencies. Through program mapping, we sought to identify overlaps, gaps, and areas for improvement that will inform future curriculum development. Materials and Methods: We employed content analysis and program mapping to evaluate 30 course curricula from the Health Social Work program. The selected courses included 6 General Foundation, 9 Professional Foundation, 12 Specialization, and 3 Field Practice courses. Each course’s learning objectives—categorized into knowledge, skills, and attitudes—were assessed against the revised competencies at three levels: Introducing, Applying, and Mastery. NVivo 14 software was used for data analysis. Result: Of the nine core competencies, three were well-integrated across the curriculum: (1) Assessment and (2) Intervention of individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations; and (3) Engage diversity and difference in practice. Conversely, competencies related to the evaluation of practice and policy engagement were underrepresented. Among the 40 sub-competencies, 11 were either missing or insufficiently addressed in the curriculum. Program mapping revealed that 38% of the courses addressed competencies at the Introducing level, 60% at the Applying level, and only 2% at the Mastery level. Learning outcomes in Professional Foundation and Specialization courses generally demonstrated a progression from introductory to applied learning. Conclusion 1. The revised core competencies are broadly aligned with the current curriculum. However, key areas—particularly evaluation of practice and engagement in policy practice—require further integration. 2. The curriculum also leans heavily toward introductory and applied levels, with limited opportunities for students to achieve mastery. Future curriculum revisions should focus on strengthening these underrepresented areas and enhancing learning outcomes at the mastery level.

Background: It is stated in the Government Programme of 2016-2020 that public servants, including health care workers, shall be given a gradually increased salary based on their skill, dexterity, workload, and productivity, and such increase started from 2018 as planned. In the health sector of our country, regarding demand and regulation of the programme, the change shall be made that the system for median salary of physicians and overall staff employed at hospitals gets even constructive, and the required human resource for the sector shall be prepared. Thus, inferring from these claims, median salary, real wage, and socioeconomic condition are in critical need for further evaluation. Objective: To examine the current socio-economic condition of health care workers, and to study the influencing factors at play. Methods: In this study, we used quantitative and qualitative methods. In the survey, we involved 655 health care workers from 6 family health centers, 2 district hospitals, 3 health centers (district-based) in Songinokhairkhan, Sukhbaatar, and Baganuur districts; and Provincial hospital, regional diagnosis and health center, 16 soum health centers from Khovd, Uvs, Arkhangai, Bulgan, Khentii, Dornod, Umnugovi, and Dornogovi provinces, along with 3 National specialized health centers and 1 National central hospital. As for data gathering for the qualitative analysis, 30 focus group interviews and 47 key informant interviews were conducted for the purpose of examining socioeconomic condition, real wage sufficiency of health care workers. Results: Average household income of study participants was 1,880,269 tugrik, the real wage was 1,073,065 tugrik, and the overall household is seen to be composed of 2 different sources on average, namely, self-wage and the income coming from family members or supplement of Child Money Programme. It has come to notice that 19.5% of the participants have lower than average living standard, 89.2% have 2 different loans (mortgage, auto loan or mobile application based loans). Material deprivation index is seen to be 2.73, hence deemed as insufficient. In order to increase the real wage of those workers, it shall be taken into consideration that the basic salary is low, and some financial supplements need to be given. Furthermore, the performance based funding system of health sector is seen to be in need of improvement. Conclusion Real wage of the health care workers is, thus, insufficient. The fact that one in every five workers in this sector have lower than average living standard, and the material deprivation index is 2.73 implying that the financial lives of health care workers are immensely fragile.

Background: Psychosocial work environment predicts a range of health risks including sickness absence, poor self rated health, and depression. Objective: To identify association between psychosocial work environment and health related indicators among health care workers in Mongolia Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January and April, 2023. 655 health care workers from Ulaanbaatar city and 4 aimags were involved. Psychosocial work environment was assessed by the Effort-reward imbalance model. As for the health related indicators, we used the SF-12 questionnaire and sickness absence report. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed.
The study was approved by Medical Ethics Review Committee on January 18, 2023 (#23/02). Results: 1 in every 2 health care workers experience effort-reward imbalance at work and rated their health as poor. In average, 32.7 percent of the study participants took 16.6 sick days for the last 1 year. The study identified poor physical (44.7±8.6) and mental health functioning (42.1±9.8) among study participants. Physical functioning was lower among nurses whereas mental health functioning was lower among physicians. Conclusion Poor health related indicators among health care workers are associated with adverse psychosocial work environment such as effort-reward imbalance and high effort and low reward