Social Work Education Research Articles

Teaching self-care: understanding the learned and lived self-care experiences of social work students

ABSTRACT Professional self-care in social work is regarded as paramount to ethical and competent practice. However, the absence of an agreed upon operationalization of self-care leaves social work educators directionless on the teaching and modeling of self-care. This study investigated the learned and lived self-care experiences of BSW and MSW students (n = 80) in their final field education experience. Data collection included an anonymous online survey, focus groups, and a follow-up online survey. Broadly, students were asked to consider three aspects of self-care: 1) their understanding of self-care, including the sources of that understanding; 2) their experienced internal and external barriers to self-care; and 3) the interface between self and systems when practicing self-care. Utilizing a general inductive approach to data analysis, several evocative themes emerged suggesting gaps between the learned experience and the lived experience of self-care including the conflict between familial or cultural values and formal self-care education, a divide between their positive experiences with self-care and their actual performance of self-care, and inhibitory components of professional systems to the personal practice of self-care. Students exhorted their social work educators to model self-care, teach it explicitly, provide in-vivo practice opportunities, and to understand the student experience.

Rethinking community-led total sanitation for eradicating open defecation in rural Ebonyi state communities, Nigeria: practice considerations for social work practitioners and educators

Abstract Nigeria is ranked number two in the world with the highest prevalence of open defecation (OD) despite the adoption of community-led total sanitation (CLTS) since 2007. Using some CLTS-triggered communities in Ebonyi State, this study investigated the awareness of CLTS, OD status, and its drivers as well as social workers' involvement in environmental sustainability. Study data generated from primary surveys included the socio-demographic characteristics of the study population and measurable behavioral elements of the SaniFOAM framework. Results of the statistical analyses show that more than 79% of the respondents were aware of CLTS, yet OD prevalence was 84.8%. While being married (odds ratio (OR): 0.036), being a civil servant (OR: 0.109), and having at least secondary education (OR: 0.119) were associated with lower odds of OD, whereas dislike for trekking (OR: 4.322), absence of laws (OR: 5.380), sanctions (OR: 4.715), and other SaniFOAM variables were associated with increased odds of OD. The results suggest that behavioral change toward OD under CLTS, with its focus on community mobilization for self-awareness and self-assessment for eliminating OD, may be a mirage without stricter approaches, laws, and sanctions for behavioral change. The domiciliation of these within grassroot governments and social workers' involvement in sanitation promotion are suggested.

Involving Service Users in Social Work Education, Research and Policy: a Comparative European Analysis, Kristel Driessens and Vicky Lyssens-Danneboom (eds)

Involving Service Users in Social Work Education, Research and Policy: a Comparative European Analysis, Kristel Driessens and Vicky Lyssens-Danneboom (eds)

Social work Education and unorganized sector labour: a Review

Social work Education and unorganized sector labour: a Review

Promoting Food Justice and the Right to Adequate Food in Social Work Education

Promoting Food Justice and the Right to Adequate Food in Social Work Education

The Use of Reflecting Teams and Principles of Reteaming in the Teaching of Social Work – A Tool for Changing the Paradigm in the Performance of Social Work

The Use of Reflecting Teams and Principles of Reteaming in the Teaching of Social Work – A Tool for Changing the Paradigm in the Performance of Social Work

Reflections of Medical Social Workers’Roles in Living Organ Donors’Psychosocial Assessment: Human Rights and Social Justice Perspectives

研究目的：本研究以人權與社會正義觀點來探討醫務社會工作人員在活體器官捐贈社會心理評估中的角色、任務以及工作內容，以確保捐贈者自主、自願及知情下同意器官捐贈的行為。<br />研究方法：本研究採立意取樣，訪談現職從事活體器官捐贈社會心理評估工作或曾任職衛生福利部核准之活體肝臟移植或活體腎臟移植醫院之醫務社會工作人員。<br />研究結果：訪談資料顯示，醫務社會工作人員在活體器官捐贈社會心理評估的工作內容是透過會談來確認捐贈者是權利主體，其捐贈決定是自主、自願以及知情下同意；同時，捐贈者的性別、身心障礙或族群等脆弱性特質形塑捐贈決策中的角色期待、家庭關係壓力與脅迫。<br />研究結論：醫務社會工作人員在捐贈者社會心理評估裡的角色既是知情同意倫理彰顯者，以捐贈者為中心，進行充權，使其具備權利意識來決定同意或拒絕器官捐贈；也是捐贈者權益維護者，協助捐贈者審視捐贈決策的情境與社會脈絡，保護捐贈者不因脆弱性特質，遭受不公對待，而進行捐贈決策。Research Purpose Liver and kidney transplants are the most common forms of living organ transplants in Taiwan. According to Article 8, item 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Human Organ Transplant Act, consent to organ donation should be given in a condition of“sound mental capacity”and“free will.”To avoid coercion or organ trafficking and selling in situations of living organ donation and transplantation, a thorough assessment and examination must be performed prior to the procedure. This study examined how medical social workers (MSWs) adopted human rights and social justice perspectives in the psychosocial assessment of living organ donors before surgery to ensure donors’autonomy and willingness. <br />Method A purposive sampling technique was adopted that involved interviewing 12 MSWs (three males and nine females) assigned to living-donor liver transplant hospitals approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare or working in psychosocial assessment of living organ donation at the time of interviewing. Interviews were conducted between March 23 and April 10, 2021. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. <br />Results According to the research findings, the psychosocial assessment of living organ donation focuses on the donor’s demographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status, and employment to ensure relationships between the donor and the recipient. It is also necessary to have information about the donor’s family system because potential donors are frequently under pressure to donate organs owing to role expectations. MSWs feel confident in their roles as professionals in the psychosocial evaluation of living organ donation since psychosocial evaluation is an essential skill to acquire in social work education. Furthermore, MSWs must ensure that potential donors’decisions are made freely and without any coercion, even though MSWs are not the only ones who respect and protect the donor’s rights to autonomy and self-determination during the psychosocial assessment process. Additionally, when donors are placed in oppressive situations during the donation decision-making process, MSWs must be aware of their vulnerability based on their gender, disability, or ethnicity to empower them to resist potential oppression or exploitation. In other words, the social work profession values the notion of social justice and emphasizes acknowledging service users’possible existence of the social injustice faced by disadvantaged groups. Psychosocial assessments of living donors help potential donors become aware of whether their characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, or disability, cause them to be dominated and exploited. According to our findings, female family members, such as spouses, daughters, or daughters-in-law, are sometimes required to sacrifice themselves to donate living organs to other family members, especially when the female is financially reliant. <br />Conclusion The results suggest that MSWs are expected to maintain consciousness of rights to protect the free will, autonomy, and self-determination freedom of potential living organ donors. Moreover, based on social justice, MSWs are expected to protect living organ donors from the pressures caused by interpersonal relationships and social roles. Consequently, the role of medical social workers in the psychosocial evaluation of living organ donations may be viewed as an advocate for human rights and social justice practitioners.

Provision and Long-Term Assessment of a Specialized Clinical Evidence-Based Practice Curriculum for Master of Social Work Students

This study investigated social workers’ knowledge of the common elements in evidence-based practice to treat youth mental health conditions following a specialized curriculum during their Master of Social Work (MSW) education. Participants’ knowledge was measured during their MSW education and in their first 5 years of social work practice after graduation. The quantitative study measured participants’ knowledge of common elements three times; 86 social workers participated in the study with 67 sets of scores at three data points. Study results showed that participants knew more after completing the curriculum but knew less one to five years after graduation. Overall, however, their knowledge remained higher than before the curriculum. The findings provided insight into social workers’ knowledge of common elements of evidence-based practice modalities over time following a specialized curriculum. Findings also suggested that having multiple work obligations, lacking supervision, and receiving supervision by someone other than a social worker were all factors that might hinder graduates from continuing their education in evidence-based practice after graduation.

Lessons Learned from the CSWE Task Force to Advance Anti-Racism in the Social Work Education Policy and Accreditation Standards:

On May 25, 2020, Mr. George Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a White police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In response to this disgusting display of police brutality, thousands of people all over the world began protesting Mr. Floyd’s killing. The Capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, became one of many flashpoints for the public’s rage against white supremacy and systemic racism as thousands of people flooded the historic Monument District to topple, dismantle and re-frame Confederate monuments with protest slogans. Policing in the United States is rooted in the historical memory of enslavement, the unrestrained and authorized misuse of power by law enforcement, and conflicting values of discourse community. Protestors employed historical memory, which includes resistance, tolerance and strength in the face of tremendously difficult circumstances (Corredor, Wills-Obregon, Asensio-Brouard, 2018, 184). This groundswell of protests merged with those that sprang up for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others slain by police violence, producing a demand for racial justice that could not be stymied. Racial disparate treatment is embedded in police brutality and in all societal institutions. This movement calls into question social justice accountability within social work education, practice, and policy. Have the protests been enough? Will the profession of social work address its own complicity in maintaining racism? 
 To advance anti-racist social work education, the CSWE Task Force for Advance Anti-Racism was conceptualized in summer 2020 to center anti-racism pedagogies and anti-racist learning environments. Several diverse social work leaders, educators, researchers, community organizers, and students came together to explore how the profession should be re-imagined as a profession that advances anti-racism and the decentering of whiteness. The task force members met to develop, discuss, and refine recommendations for CSWE on Education Policy and Accreditation (EPA). Employing content analysis, the authors identified major themes that emanated from the work of the Task Force. Content themes include how racism, white supremacy and ethnocracy underscores social work as an applied social science that maintains information structures, paradigms, theories, and practices ensconced in academia. The praxis recommendations of the task force include adapting theoretical frameworks for anti-racist social work education; incorporating anti-racism and critical theories, such as Critical Race Theory; updating social work competencies; promoting equitable approaches to hiring and retaining BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) faculty in different positions; and, creating a new anti-racism commission to continue anti-racism work.

The everyday civic engagement of social work students

ABSTRACT Processes like globalization and digitalization are changing the way people civically engage, but policies and organizations that aim to cultivate or promote civic engagement have not yet acknowledged these new forms of participation. Social work is a profession that aims to foster civic engagement as a way to strengthen social cohesion. In this article, the civic engagement of social work students is examined. As young people they use contemporary means of engagement, and as students they are preparing for a professional future in which they will foster civic engagement. With the help of participant observations, we gathered data that shows where students’ civic engagement takes place, how they engage, and how they perceive this engagement. We found that students mainly engage through informal and short-term online communication on social media applications like Instagram and TikTok. However, instead of perceiving those actions as civic engagement, they see them as leisure activities or even a waste of time. The insights from this article can help to develop and improve social work education and social work strategies to foster the civic engagement of citizens now and in the future.

Supports and Barriers: Social Work Educators Addressing Student Wellness Needs

ABSTRACT While the years spent in college or graduate school have traditionally been viewed as demanding, current students face financial, emotional, and mental health stressors that interfere with their success at alarming rates. Undoubtedly social issues, cultural challenges, and economic realities complicate these experiences for students. At the same time, the negative effects of stress on learning capacity can prompt a blurring of the traditional line between educator and supporter, especially for social work educators. One hundred twenty-eight social work educators responded to a survey questionnaire about what helps or hinders their efforts to support student wellness. Inductive content analyses were conducted with seven themes identified around what supports educators and five themes identified around barriers that interfere with educators in their efforts to address student wellness needs. Major factors influencing educator effects include resource availability, educator-student partnerships, wellness-centered pedagogy, environmental culture, and oppressive forces. Implications for social work educators and administrators are explored.

Pedagogical approaches for social justice and diversity in Canadian social work education

ABSTRACT This paper aims to explore social justice and diversity education in Canadian schools of social work. Using an online survey, we invited faculty members to share their teaching experiences in social justice and diversity courses. Participants included 24 faculty members who have taught either undergraduate or graduate students in accredited social work schools across Canada. Using descriptive synthesis and content analysis, the findings revealed various characteristics of social justice and diversity courses, as well as several categories around challenges and supports in teaching social justice and diversity courses. Three challenges are noted: (1) insufficient time to cover social justice and diversity topics with enough breadth and depth; (2) addressing students’ affects and preconceived ideas; and (3) increased burden for faculty members identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) teaching social justice focused courses. Participants described three areas that need to be strengthened to teach social justice and diversity courses including (1) integrating social justice content across all micro and macro courses, as well as practicum; (2) creating a space and culture of community of practice (CoP) for social justice education and ongoing faculty training; and (3) institutionalizing social justice education for the professional accreditation of social work education.

Development of A Suicide Prevention Training Module for Social Work Students in India.

Social workers constitute a significant task force that serves diverse populations experiencing psychosocial challenges in their daily lives. Lack of suicide prevention content/training in the Master of Social Work program may affect the student's self-esteem/ability to intervene when they come across a person with suicidality in the field. Developing a suicide prevention training module for social work students would be a suitable measure for upbringing their skills in dealing with individuals with suicidality. The purpose of the present study was to develop a suicide prevention training module for social work students at the postgraduate level. The researcher conducted two Focused Group Discussions (FGD) each with social work students (n = 13) and social work educators (n = 15) on an online platform. Notes were taken during the discussion, and the contents were videotaped. The videotaped content was transcribed, and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The content that emerged from the FGD with social work students and educators was discussed in later FGD with mental health experts (two psychiatrists, one psychologist, two psychiatric social workers, and two mental health nurses). The discussion with experts clarified what components to retain for the training program. Five major themes and 22 sub-themes emerged from the two FGDs each with students and educators, and one FGD with mental health professionals are described. The five major themes were understanding of suicidality, understanding suicide education in the master of social work curriculum, experience with suicidality, training content suggestion, and suggestions for future implications. The present study identified the need for suicide prevention training in postgraduate-level social work students. Furthermore, a lack of suicide prevention training was observed indicating the incorporation of suicide education in the postgraduate curriculum.

Students-teaching-students: an instructional method for increasing student engagement in undergraduate social work courses

ABSTRACT Engagement in social work education can be a critical factor in the success and retention of information for students. Similarly, an engaged classroom provides a better experience for faculty and students. This article considers how the Students-Teaching-Students (STS) model might increase engagement in undergraduate social work courses. The STS model is introduced, described, applied to online and in-person students, and analyzed for its impact on student engagement. Descriptive analysis shows the interests and preferences of students who participated in the STS model. Bivariate analysis revealed how STS might impact overall engagement and involvement in the course in various academic settings. Findings from this study will better inform and introduce social science faculty about how to incorporate and utilize the STS model to create a more vibrant and interesting student experience.

Building professional identity during social work education: the role of reflective writing as a tool

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to increase knowledge about how the process of building a professional identity can be incorporated into social work education at a Swedish university. In the subject called Personal and Professional Development (PPD), taught during the first five semesters, students are trained in specific generic skills and approaches required in social work. Different pedagogical tools, such as keeping a logbook in which students can reflect on different course elements, are used to support the learning- and development process. The data consists of 95 log texts and critical reflections from 41 students who finished the PPD course. Thematic content analysis with both quantitative and qualitative elements was used. The results indicate that this course gives students the opportunity to begin the process of developing their professional identity by linking knowledge and skills training to ideas about their future profession. The results point to the field placement as a central part in this process where theoretical knowledge can be contextualized and focus can be broadened from the individual to the societal level. One conclusion is that reflective writing seems to be a valuable and important part of students’ development of metacognition by making their own learning visible.

Co-creating experiences through the use of arts in social work education

ABSTRACT The inclusion of citizens in social work education was initiated over 30 years ago and continues to travel a ‘long and winding road’. Social work education in the UK faces increasing pressure from a range of stakeholders including citizens who use services, regulatory bodies and the media to demonstrate that newly qualified social workers are competent and uphold public trust. While social work education and practice within England and Wales draw on similar traditions in theory and practice, there are important differences in the national and institutional frameworks within which they operate. This article illustrates some of these differences through a focus on social work education provision in one English and one Welsh university. Drawing on the experience and views of the student participants, we examine the benefits of creative approaches that promote citizen involvement and suggest how European traditions can contribute to this process. We define key terms and summarize the literature, followed by presentation of the results and identification of the key learning. We identify that emancipatory models of education can encourage recognition of learners’ different strengths and can help to assist social work students’ readiness for practice. Finally, we acknowledge the need for cost-benefit outcomes research into if and how citizen coproduction influences subsequent service delivery.

A Common Purpose? Social Work Students’ Social Justice Related Views in Finland and the island of Ireland

Abstract Exploring social work students’ views to understand how equipped they are to pursue the social justice mission of the profession should be of central academic and practical interest. There are, however, surprisingly few empirical studies focussing on social work students’ views on social justice-related issues from a comparative viewpoint. Such knowledge is thought to be of a wider international interest from a number of perspectives, including social work education and student exchange and, in a wider context, for the development of social work as a profession and for discussing the prerequisites for shared international notions of social work. This article explores the views of social work students studying in different socio-economic contexts and welfare regimes in relation to some key aspects assumed to be vital for the profession. The results based on survey data from student cohorts in Finland (N = 608) and the island of Ireland (N = 279) support the general conclusion that there are important, similar patterns of motivations and understandings amongst the students, despite substantial differences in histories, welfare state developments, current policies and social conditions in various jurisdictions. The results are of interest to educators across countries internationally and provide an important basis for future similar studies.

Book Review: Social work education and the grand challenges: Approaches to curricula and field education by R. Paul Maiden and Eugenia L. Weiss

Book Review: <i>Social work education and the grand challenges: Approaches to curricula and field education</i> by R. Paul Maiden and Eugenia L. Weiss

Teaching Note—Innovating the Curriculum: Bringing History Back Into Social Work Education

ABSTRACT History, the major storehouse of information, informs us about the important relationship between people and society and increases our understanding of basic societal values and institutional arrangements. A recent New York Times op-ed described “The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession.” Likewise for historical content in social work education, exacerbated by the 1970s‘ rise of neoliberalism and the profession’s long marginalization of historical research and teaching. The Social Welfare History Group renews its call to bring historical content back into social work education and to correct its deep-seated race, class, gender, and colonizing distortions. To ensure that all social work courses include history, we can revive the value historical knowledge; prepare a cadre of historical researchers and instructors; financially support emerging scholars and develop a pipeline of history-informed faculty to teach the next generation of social workers.

From food security to food sovereignty: preparing social workers to effectively intervene in food systems

ABSTRACT Globally, conventional food systems are failing to produce enough high quality, nutritious food for the world’s population. For those in the helping professions, the most typical entry point into this crisis is emergency food assistance services. However, current food systems are also threaded through with legacies of racialized violence, ongoing exploitation of land and labor, the effects of pollution and climate change, the crisis of hunger, and the desire of peoples across the globe to choose how to nourish their communities. As such, social work education must pay greater attention to the complexity of food systems to prepare future practitioners to effectively intervene in this arena. This paper introduces a conceptual model that distinguishes between food security, food justice, and food sovereignty—examining the model’s utility to social work education and practice. To explore opportunities to integrate course content and practice in food systems, we offer a case study of a community-engaged project to advance food sovereignty efforts in Oregon, tracing contributions to student learning as well as to the community partner. We conclude with implications for social work education so that future practitioners can intervene more effectively and intentionally in food systems.