Doctoral Social Work Research Articles

Anti-racist and inclusive mentoring in social work doctoral education

ABSTRACT Doctoral social work education is challenged to revisit how we mentor the next generation of social work scholars to decolonize and de-center whiteness in social work research, education, and practice. Building on the existing literature and adopting the Delphi technique with four Delphi rounds that were based on a dialogue with 100 participants at a webinar on anti-racist and inclusive mentoring, an expert panel including members representing doctoral program directors, deans and directors, the Social Work Grand Challenges board on Eliminating Racism, BIPOC scholars, and a doctoral student collaboratively developed this model. This mentoring model included three interconnected components. An explicit definition of Anti-racist & Inclusive Mentoring provides a useful frame to clearly articulate the second component that focuses on action, steps, and strategies of this mentoring process. Effective anti-racist & inclusive mentoring is understood as a parallel process operating at multi-levels including the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and society level. Coordinated anti-racist and inclusive mentoring process efforts will lead to outcomes that include long-term and sustainable system changes and institutional changes. The Anti-Racist & Inclusive Mentoring Model highlights the importance of an interconnected and coordinated effort at multi-levels to create sustainable and impactful mentorship embedded in individual, interpersonal and system changes at school and institutional levels. In addition to doctoral education, the mentoring model will have useful implications for mentoring social work students at undergraduate and graduate levels.

Doctoral program support impacts student educational experience: examining the virtual holding environment across DSW cohorts

ABSTRACT In this exploratory mixed-methods study, we applied Fletcher, Davis Comer, and Dunlap’s conceptual framework of Virtual Holding Environments (VHEs), spaces where supportive relationships can be developed and maintained using technology over time. We investigated the role of VHEs in enhancing educational experiences among doctoral students who completed their degrees primarily (or fully) online. Using survey data collected over the spring/summer of 2019, we examined Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) students’ (n = 34) experiences of VHEs in a Midwestern university in the United States as they began, worked toward, and completed their doctoral degrees. Qualitative findings included themes such as togetherness and connectedness, importance, and relevance, and quantitative descriptive analysis of responses to Likert-scale questions portrayed doctoral students’ experiences of the VHEs. Recommendations for social work online and hybrid educational programs are to consider implementation of VHEs during orientation programs, to focus developmental processes on embracing differences among cohort members, and to adjust the delivery of curricula to meet the current needs of students.

Social Work Education on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People: Application of an Intersectional Feminist Lens and Suggested Classroom Exercises

ABSTRACT This paper argues for the application of Intersectional Feminist theoretical lens to social work pedagogy and provides sample educational activities, from simple to complex, which apply this lens to bachelors, masters, and doctoral social work levels. All social workers must be prepared to work effectively with transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people. This work relies on social workers’ knowledge, skills, and self-awareness. Social workers who lack knowledge, skills, and self-awareness of the dimensions of gender diversity can create barriers to care for TGNC people. Increasingly, research on social work education and professional social work organizations are encouraging and expanding guidelines for effective practices with TGNC people. Much of this guidance stresses discrete practices rather than situating practice within a broader theoretical framework. Rather than adding to general guidance, we advocate for the application of an Intersectional Feminist lens in teaching social workers dimensions of gender diversity. Applying an Intersectional Feminist lens to social work education creates a context to frame educational activities and facilitates students’ self-discovery of personally and socially held conceptions and biases related to gender. We include activities to help those teaching social work infuse this lens into pedagogy across levels of teaching social work.

Current Landscape of Doctoral Education in Social Work: A Look at the PhD and DSW Programs

ABSTRACT The 2020 GADE Director Survey aimed to understand program and student characteristics, support for students, curriculum focus and design, and students’ job search support and outcomes in PhD and DSW programs. In general, PhD programs focus on building students’ research capacities, including interdisciplinary research and leadership in higher education and research-oriented organizations, whereas DSW programs prepare students to contribute in the areas of clinical expertise, leadership in non-academic settings, and advancing social work practice at multiple levels. The program structure, curricula and graduation requirements are organized according to the distinct emphasis of each type of program. These findings have significant implications for doctoral programs as they navigate their strategic directions in the changing landscape of doctoral social work education.

“Tone It Down”: The Whitewashing of Black Women Doctoral Students’ Research and Scholarship at Predominately White Institutions—Implications for Social Work Doctoral Education

ABSTRACT While there is growing research on the structural and institutional barriers experienced by Black women faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), little is known about the systemic marginalization faced by Black women doctoral students at these institutions, particularly those in doctoral social work programs. Given the increasing number of Black women doctoral students in social work programs at PWIs, there is a need to understand how social work doctoral education upholds institutional whiteness through attempts to whitewash Black women’s research and scholarship. This article contextualizes the experiences of Black women social work doctoral students using Black feminist thought perspective. The authors provide implications for social work doctoral education to dismantle structures that facilitate whitewashing experiences for Black women doctoral students.

An Evaluation of the University of Pennsylvania DSW Program

ABSTRACT Currently, Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) programs are proliferating, but with limited empirical data to direct planning efforts. To fill this gap in knowledge, this article reports on the findings of an evaluation undertaken on the first DSW of its kind. This evaluation had three components: (1) an environmental scan of DSW programs; (2) a survey of current students and alumni; and (3) a review of all completed dissertations. Relevant results are presented, along with implications for changes to the DSW program based on this quality-improvement effort.

The state of doctoral social work education in Canada

ABSTRACT Doctoral education in social work is critical in nurturing the stewards of the discipline. Universities across Canada, and elsewhere, are increasing admissions for bachelor and master of social work programs. Consequently, doctoral social work programs are expanding to educate and train new social work faculty. Extant literature on doctoral social work education is predominantly American. There are fourteen Canadian doctoral social work programs, yet no study has observed the state of these programs. Using two data sources, this article provides a snapshot of PhD social work student experiences in 2019–2020. The analysis of all doctoral social work students (n = 157) from the 2019 Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey (CGPSS) found that: a) the overall quality of social work PhD programs in Canada was rated by students as moderate; and b) financial obstacles may be an undue barrier to academic success. Furthermore, the analysis of an online survey of Canadian social work PhD students (n = 69) regarding their experience applying for doctoral fellowships and scholarships found that workshops significantly facilitated scholarship success, and that other institutional preparation activities were identified as valuable. These findings illuminate the current state of doctoral social work education in Canada with implications for research and education.

Uso del inglés en programas de Doctorado en Trabajo Social en Estados Unidos. Un estudio de caso ilustrativo de la hegemonía idiomática

This study reviews the experiences of non-native English-speaking students in Doctoral Social Work Education in the United States. The research, through a qualitative case study, interrogates regarding the centrality of English in education processes, and generates recommendations for improving them. Findings show that English can play a hegemonic role in Social Work Education and that some educators can exert discrimination based on language proficiency. Among recommendations are the need to promote reflexivity to contribute that educators reconnect with discipline principles as well as review the way their power is exerted in the classroom.

Unsettling reflexivity and critical race pedagogy in social work education: narratives from social work students

ABSTRACT Recognizing and dismantling structural racism is at the core of the National Association of Social Work’s (NASW) Code of Ethics and is also one of the Social Work Grand Challenges to tackle. Although increasing scholarly research has examined critical reflexive approaches to incorporate in the training of prospective anti-racist social work practitioners, scholars, and educators, limited research has examined narratives from social work students grappling with positionality and power structures of the profession. This article suggests unsettling reflexivity as a critical race pedagogy tool to disrupt and contest systems of power in social work education by presenting four critical autoethnographic narratives of graduate and doctoral social work students. Implications and recommendations to prioritize a pedagogy of relationality and discomfort for social work education are discussed.

Honoring liminality: teaching critical and race-gendered approaches in doctoral social work education

ABSTRACT This theoretical paper adds to the scholarship of teaching and learning, by explicating the shared experiences of one doctoral student and two full-time faculty members related to liminality as a guiding pedagogy for doctoral social work education. It uses liminality to explore the unique space that first and second year doctoral students occupy as a justification for critical and race-gendered approaches that inform teaching doctoral level contemporary theory and social work practice. Recognizing, acknowledging and supporting beginning doctoral students’ liminal identity with critical and race-gendered teaching approaches is in keeping with social work ethics. This pedagogy may ultimately lead to increased doctoral student retention, as well as fostering more liberating approaches to knowledge generation.

U. S. Social work dissertations with a group work focus 1970-2012: interviews with authors

ABSTRACT This study explored the historical landscape of U.S. social work doctoral dissertations focusing on group work. It investigated whether generating these dissertations factors into ongoing connections with this modality. The purpose of the study was two pronged: (1) to identify group work focused social work dissertations produced between 1970 and 2012 and (2) to interview dissertation authors to ascertain their professional connections with group work, their contemporary perceptions of group work education, and their suggestions for advocacy for the group work method. Sixty-three group work dissertations were identified and 24 dissertation authors were interviewed. The study found a strong relationship between completing a group work focused dissertation and ongoing professional involvement with the group work modality. The findings provide some meaningful support for focusing on doctoral social work programs as vehicles for increasing the number of social work professionals committed to the group work modality.

Learning Through Teaching: A Study of Social Work PhD Students in Their Roles as Educators and Learners of Research

ABSTRACTPhD social work education programs train students to become effective researchers. Less recognized are the potential opportunities for PhD students to develop in their role as educators and the possible benefits of honing doctoral students’ knowledge of research through their role as educators. This study explored these opportunities for social work PhD students who taught an introductory research methods course to MSW students. Findings suggest that potential strong, mutual benefits for PhD and MSW students exist, and institutional supports improved PhD students’ confidence as educators and researchers. Finally, integration of Kolb’s experiential learning theory and Feynman’s mental model in the doctoral social work curriculum may enhance the profession’s development of future leaders.

Training experience for future social workers in USА

The article examines the training of future social workers in the United States and describes the ways of transforming positive experiences into the modern educational system of Ukraine. The author examines the main stages of the formation of American vocational training of social workers, which characterize the system of training, which was launched in 1898. The main differences in the training future social workers in the United States, the author notes the widespread use of practical forms of knowledge acquisition, a high percentage the tasks of the student's independent learning activities, the presence of slight specialization and a competent approach to the results of education.
 Training for social work in the United States is carried out in social work schools and colleges at universities. The programs provide three levels of training: a bachelor, a master, and a doctor of social work.
 The process of organizing the professional practice in future social workers in the United States is characterized by instructive, academic, and combining approaches. While studying in the United States, a student in each semester passes one to two practices under the direction of a social worker («field educator»). In general, in the USA during the training social workers, teachers are offered to perform two types of professionally directed practices: field, that is, without leaving the training and block, which is conducted with the separation from theoretical training during the semester.
 Now in America, the role of the state in the social sphere is increasing. Therefore, there are new forms of interaction and spheres of professional activity of social workers. The process of training social workers in the XXI century acquires new features and undergoes changes in the United States and Ukraine. Such changes include: changing the motives of professionalization - from social and educational to economic; development and possibility of competition in the international market of educational services.

Investigating Diversity in Social Work Doctoral Education in the United States

ABSTRACTDespite its emphasis on social justice, social work in the United States has not always attended to issues of diversity in doctoral education. This article examines the state of the discipline’s research on traditionally underrepresented students in U.S. doctoral social work programs. An analysis of relevant peer-reviewed articles from social work journals revealed that this research has focused on demographic trends, degree motivation, student barriers, existing supports, and career navigation. Diversity in U.S. doctoral social work education is vastly understudied with the majority of scholarship focusing on ethnoracial difference. The limitations of this study are discussed, and future research directions are proposed including the need to examine various kinds of social differences and a wider range of support initiatives.

Doctoral Education in Social Work: The Decade Ahead

ABSTRACTScientific and professional developments in the coming decade will have profound implications for social work doctoral education and the research and academic careers doctoral students are preparing for. These developments include the knowledge explosion, corporatization of the university and related effects, and the emergence of the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative delimiting key directions for social work research and practice. We consider potential effects of these developments on doctoral social work education and proffer curricular, pedagogic, and programmatic recommendations for improving doctoral education in the coming decade.

How Prepared Are MSW Graduates for Doctoral Research? Views of PhD Research Faculty

ABSTRACTThis national survey of PhD faculty assessed the research preparation of entering doctoral social work students on a wide range of research knowledge and related skills. The prior literature shows that PhD programs repeat much BSW and MSW research course content. This study shows that the trend continues and has perhaps widened. PhD research faculty report that the typical entering PhD student displayed solid conceptual, ethics, and writing skills but lesser preparation for conducting quantitative and qualitative research, including methods related to understanding evidence-based practice. The research expectations of responding PhD faculty were low, reflecting limited retention and little production of research among typical entering doctoral students. These findings raise the issue of how effectively the social work profession prepares students for research and for future PhD education.

A Bridging Approach to Boost Doctoral Enrollment in a HBCU: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

A declining enrollment in doctoral social work programs not only affects the sustainability of the programs, but also impacts the knowledge-based economy in the long run. The shortage of doctoral-prepared faculty, interwoven with the current national shortage of social workers, will limit effective service delivery, and generation of knowledge base for direct practice and policy advocates. Little is known about the barriers and strategies in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Two focus groups with in-depth interviews were conducted among Master of Social Work (MSW) students at a four-year public university. The study resulted in a wide range of identifiable strategies to boost the doctoral enrollment in the social work program, including more summer courses, more online courses, more flexible class time, higher integration of technology in the classroom and better curriculum structure. Findings suggest that non-traditional becomes the new traditional. With the advancement in smartphone and wireless technology, the University can reposition the program, seek for ways to serve the new traditional student population, and improve the infrastructure to accommodate students’ digital needs.

Doctoral Social Work Education

This article is intended to forecast major environmental changes that may impact social work doctoral education and assess what should be done in anticipation of these changes. We apply an open system and future studies perspective to guide our work. We present a set of predicted societal changes that will impact social work as a profession and doctoral education in particular. We then present and discuss major expected changes in higher education and further assess some of their potential impact on social work doctoral education. We conclude with a synthesis of how these pending changes may impact social work doctoral education and what can be done in anticipation of these changes.

Gender comparisons of Israeli social work faculty using h-index scores

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of gender and faculty rank to determine their contribution to individual variance in research productivity for doctoral social work faculty in Israel.Design/methodology/approachH-index scores were used to assess research productivity. Quantitative comparisons of the h-index scores were performed for a sample (n=92) of social work faculty from Israeli universities with social work doctoral programs. Average h-index differences were assessed between genders at each tenure-track faculty rank and between faculty ranks for each gender.FindingsScholarly impact varied as a function of faculty rank. There was little indication of variance due to gender or the interaction of gender and rank. The average h-index of male faculty was higher than the mean h-index for women at the rank of lecturer and full professor. Women had a higher mean h-index than men at the rank of senior lecturer and associate professor. H-index means varied most at the full professor level.Originality/valueResults were congruent with previous studies demonstrating that male faculty in the social sciences have higher overall h-index scores than women. However, this study was unique in its finding that this gap was reversed for Israeli social work faculty at the senior lecturer and associate professor. Further research is needed to examine the differences in publication patterns of social work faculty in different countries.

Advancement in social work education: fostering a supportive environment for students of non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds

Doctoral students from non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in programs of social work despite efforts to increase student diversity. This paper highlights the unique challenges experienced by non-dominant racial and ethnic students and offers suggestions for addressing retention and attrition concerns among these students across systems within doctoral social work programs. The authors identify structural inequalities, marginalization, discrimination, minority stress, and lack of support as potential barriers to student success. Suggestions for increasing diversity and retention are rooted in critical multiculturalism and involvement theory, emphasizing institutional change, socialization, recruitment, and social support.