Graduate Schools Of Social Work Research Articles

Exploring the Role of Medical Social Workers in Teaching and Non-Teaching Hospitals: A Study on the Potential Establishment of a Department of Medical Social Work

Medical social work plays a pivotal role in ensuring comprehensive and quality healthcare delivery, particularly in hospital settings. This paper delineates the multifaceted responsibilities undertaken by medical social workers, encompassing ethical treatment, transparency in hospital management, and advocacy for the welfare of vulnerable patients. It examines the historical evolution of medical social work in India, tracing its roots to the pioneering efforts of institutions like the Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work. Furthermore, it elucidates the guidelines set forth by the Medical Council of India, emphasizing the critical need for medical social workers in both rural and urban healthcare facilities. In exploring the possibility of establishing dedicated departments for medical social work, this paper proposes a complementary framework to the existing department of community medicine. By delineating the roles and responsibilities of medical social workers in rural and urban health training centers, it underscores their significance in addressing community health determinants and facilitating access to essential services. It also highlights the potential for medical social workers to contribute as multidisciplinary team members across various hospital departments, thereby amplifying their impact on patient care and rehabilitation processes. In conclusion, the paper underscores the imperative of recognizing and strengthening the role of medical social workers in healthcare delivery systems. By fostering greater awareness, professional development, and institutional support, we can harness the full potential of medical social work to promote health equity and social justice for all individuals.

THE POWER OF INTERCONNECTION: FRANCES HESSELBEIN IN HER OWN WORDS

AbstractThe author, Professor, and Dean Emeritus at Bryn Mawr College's Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, writes about her long‐standing relationship with Frances Hesselbein. The article revolves around an interview in late 2016 between Bailey and Hesselbein for a special issue of the multidisciplinary journal Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping. According to the author, the “issue focused on the relationship between the individual and organizations…” and it centers around Hesselbein's professional career, beginning with her leadership of the Girl Scouts of the USA in the mid‐1970s.

Responding to the Psychosocial Experiences of First-Generation Master of Social Work (MSW) Students

ABSTRACT In this Notes From the Field essay, we bring together clinical practice and administrative experiences to explore and anticipate the psychosocial experiences of first-generation MSW students. Our goal is to offer programmatic suggestions that reflect the strengths and challenges of first-generation graduate students in social work programs and beyond. We begin by highlighting the unique psychosocial experiences of students with a mix of brief case vignettes illustrating themes shared in clinical practice. We then outline responsive programmatic approaches including entry, first-year, and ongoing student support services within a graduate school of social work.

Intersecting Race and Gender Across Hardships and Mental Health During COVID-19: A Moderated-Mediation Model of Graduate Students at Two Universities.

While the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of college students can vary across race and gender, few studies have explored the role of hardships and university assistance in these disparities, as well as how these disparities can manifest themselves differently across intersections of race and gender. We address this gap by using unique survey data (n = 417) from two large graduate schools of social work, public health, and social policy in the United States. Using multi-group structural equation modeling, we explore how material hardships, academic hardships, and university assistance needed mediates the relationship between race and mental health, including depression and anxiety. We also explore how gender moderates these relationships. We find that Black students are directly related to material hardships and—through these hardships—indirectly related to increased depression, indicating mediation. However, material hardships did not mediate the relationship between race and anxiety. Furthermore, while academic hardships mediated the relationships between race and depression, as well as race and anxiety, these relationships were only significant for females, indicating moderated-mediation. Moreover, although university assistance needed mediated the relationship between race and depression for females only, university assistance needed mediated the relationship between race and anxiety for both males and females. We close with implications for policy and practice.

Linkages: Settlement houses, summer camps, and the origins of social group work

ABSTRACT This article shares historical research relating to the intersection of social group work, settlement houses, and summer camps. It discusses how settlement houses in the early twentieth century worked to nurture social group work approaches in their clubs and summer camps. By developing an understanding of group process, examining the impact of the physical environment, implementing collaborative models, and operationalizing democratic living; these pioneer social workers created and applied concepts for working with small groups that continue to be relevant today. Graduate schools of social work gradually accepted social group work as a method of interpersonal practice and engaged faculty who had honed this approach in settlement houses, community centers, and summer camps. Social science research was soon incorporated into the method. Spotlighting multiple examples, the article seeks to show how group work’s distant past can serve as a highly pertinent inspiration for present and future social workers and students.

Reflections on theJournal of the Society for Social Work and Research

Reflections on the<i>Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research</i>

Defining the Minimum Expectation of MSW Students: Implementation and Application of Technical Standards

ABSTRACT The call for professional education programs to clarify the standards students are held accountable to is particularly challenging for social work. For social work educators, tackling this task not only involves grappling with their role as gatekeepers to the profession but also ensuring that such standards preserve the profession’s commitment to accessibility in the student body. This article describes the process and lessons learned at one graduate school of social work who developed and implemented technical standards for professional and ethical behavior for MSW students. The challenges articulating professional standards for students beginning their social work education are shared and the discussion serves as a guide to inform the future development and implementation of similar standards across social work programs.

Operation Veterans to Social Workers: A Military Social Work Certificate Program

ABSTRACTService members, Veterans, and their families have special needs for mental health services, but the nation lacks a sufficient pool of social workers competent in military culture. Noting the need for military cultural competency and an increasing number of student Veterans, a graduate school of social work created a military social work training program embedded in an existing MSW program. Operation Veterans to Social Workers (OVSW) were designed to increase culturally competent mental health services to this population by recruiting Veteran MSW students into a Military Social Work certificate program that included a specialized field placement with a trauma-informed clinical focus.

Difficult Conversations in a School of Social Work: Exploring Student and Faculty Perceptions

ABSTRACTDifficult conversations about isms, power, privilege, and oppression are an essential part of social work education, and they present unique challenges for students and faculty. The current study examined students’ and faculty’s perceptions of the safety of the classroom and the competence of the faculty in facilitating difficult conversations at a graduate school of social work in New York City. Student and faculty versions of a survey were distributed to both groups. Results indicated students rated the experience of having difficult conversations at the school significantly more negatively than the faculty did. The majority of respondents expressed the need for courses and training to be more fluent in having difficult conversations. Future directions are discussed based on the findings.

Center for Health Administration Studies (CHAS) at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration

The Center For Health Administration Studies (CHAS) is an interdisciplinary health policy and services research center located at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Since its inception, CHAS has pursued the mission of conducting and promoting research and knowledge development to reduce health inequities and improve access. The move of CHAS to the School of Social Service Administration from the Graduate School of Business in 1991 resulted in innovative programming reflecting the changing landscape of health care, passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid expansion, and the growing interest of social work researchers in social determinants of health, behavioral health and integrated health and social services. The success and distinction of CHAS over its eighty year history offers lessons to social work regarding the sustainability of a research center in a graduate school of social work.

The Roles of Foundations and Universities in Redevelopment Planning

Laurie A. Walker, the 2017 recipient of the Ernest A. Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement, is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Montana. Together with her co-author, Dr. Jean F. East, Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, they have raised, in this piece, an important and insightful critical lens on the implications of higher education institutions’ “engagement” with their local communities. It looks deeply into the implications of the “blind spot” identified by Baldwin (2017), which “comes largely from the assumption that higher education, while hypnotized by corporate power, is still an inherent public good, most clearly marked by its tax-exempt status for providing services that would otherwise come from the government.” They examine how campuses may be deeply involved in the local urban area and also advancing a self-interest that may not be a public interest – through gentrification, and through what Baldwin calls “noneducational investments in real estate, policing, and labor” that “can carry negative consequences for neighborhoods of color.” Walker and East are asking us to more closely examine how campuses can get so involved in the cities of which they are a part as to be a dominant force that does not advance the public good, but the good of the campus. This is a dilemma and a question that many of the CUMU member campuses have already faced or may face in the coming years, and goes to the heart of the public good of higher education in a neoliberal age.&#x0D; &#x0D; —John Saltmarsh, University of Massachusetts, Boston

The Mount Sinai international enhancement of social work leadership program: The past and the future

ABSTRACTDeveloped in 1988, the Mount Sinai International Enhancement of Social Work Leadership Program brings 4-6 social workers from several countries each year to the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, where they meet with leaders from the hospital, community based organizations and graduate schools of social work, to enhance their leadership ability, strengthen management and research skills, and build upon global social work relationships. This article reviews the results of a survey conducted in 2016 to assess whether the visiting scholars met established learning objectives of the Program. Survey outcomes, presented in quantitative and qualitative terms, show positive results, and the scholars reported that the Program was extremely beneficial. The Program is viewed through the lens of two select adult learning theories: Social Learning Theory, which incorporates collaboration and learning from others, and Transformative Learning Theory, which is comprised of self-reflection and individualized learning. The inclusion of these theories in the implementation of the Program will be discussed. An analysis of the survey’s outcomes, through pre- and post-Program participation and learning, facilitates assessment of potential programmatic adjustments to help evaluate long-term viability of the Program and potential duplication by other academic medical centers.

A Note From the Editor-in-Chief

A Note From the Editor-in-Chief

The death of Black males: The unmasking of cultural competence and oppressive practices in a micro-aggressive environment

ABSTRACTThis conceptual article critically examines the relationship between cultural competence, oppressive practices, and micro-aggression within the field of social work and the larger community. The Council on Social Work Education requires that topics of race, power, privilege, and cultural competence be included in the graduate schools of social work it endorses. However, the impact of race, culture, class, and privilege in society and the work environment in the form of micro-aggression remains ignored within the human service field. African American males are most often the beneficiaries of services that social workers offer. In addition, they are often the recipient of these embedded messages, which are often witnessed in the form of police brutality, aggressive policing practices, and disproportionate arrest rates. This article presents some of the barriers social workers must be familiar with when addressing micro-aggression, cultural competence, and the impact of micro-aggression on oppression. Finally, recommendations for addressing micro-aggressions within the workplace and the field of social work are discussed.

Enacting and Sustaining Trauma and Violence Through Policy Enforcement

In the fall of 2015, Professor Lisa Graybill and two law students from Sturm College of Law responded to a call from the American Immigrant Lawyers Association (AILA) requesting pro bono legal services to women and their children who were being held at a detention center in Artesia, New Mexico. When Professor Graybill and the students arrived at the detention center, they were surprised and dismayed by what they found: poor conditions, sick children, policies that subverted access to the legal system, and women and children who experienced multiple and severe acts of sexual and physical violence without hope of protection in their home countries. Incensed by the injustices she witnessed, she approached me as a social work faculty member in order to propose an interdisciplinary course in law and social work that would focus on immigrant family detention. The course included a spring break learning experience in which students would provide pro bono legal and social support services to women and children held in immigration detention facilities in Texas. This project was supported through the use of funds from the University of Denver Latino Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship, Sturm College of Law, and the Graduate School of Social Work. This editorial is written based on our experiences at the immigration family jail located in Dilley, TX.

The Current State of Group Work Education in U.S. Graduate Schools of Social Work

Social work has historically recognized group work as a core practice methodology; however, group work’s prominence within the graduate curriculum has diminished over the years. This article reports the results of a national survey of accredited U.S. MSW programs’ curricular offerings in group work. The survey replicates and builds upon a 1994 Birnbaum and Auerbach study to identify changes and trends over this 20-year period. Overall, a further decline in group work curricular offerings was found. Strategies to renew and bolster commitment to group work education are offered.

Career Transitions in Midlife: Pursuing an MSW as an Older Student

This study aims to increase understanding about the challenges and opportunities for graduate schools of social work to meet the educational needs of midlife and older adults. Interviews were conducted with alumni who received their MSWs when they were age 40 or older. The Alumni Office provided 170 alumni’s contact information; 61 (36%) alumni were reached and 60 (98%) agreed to participate. Most (62%) switched from the for-profit sector into the nonprofit sector after their MSW, whereas others (38%) advanced within the human and social service occupations. Volunteering and caregiving were pathways to the MSW. Graduate schools could reshape recruitment and programming to facilitate an increasing number of older students.

Competencias en gerontología: Imperativo demográfico

This article have the principal objective of sustained the imperative of teach gerontological competences in our future social work professionals in Puerto Rico. With this purpose it discusses the findings of an exploratory study of gerontological competences in the students of an elective course: Gerontology and Social Work, Subgraduated Program of Social Work, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, 2008-2009 academic year. Share also important findings of research conducted by graduate students of the Graduate School of Social Work, Beatriz Lasalle, on interests and career preferences of students of the Sub graduated Program. The first study was a proposal and project sponsored by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) in Curriculum Development Institute of the Gero-Ed Center. Gerontological competencies defined as demonstrating the skills of intervention with the population of elderly, which are based on knowledge of the life cycle stage and the values of appreciation and respect for the dignity and rights self-determination and participation in a social context of laws, and inclusive, equitable services to these people. In times of insecurity in the services for this population, as well as demographic increase, is necessarily the discussion of the issue of skills required by social workers in Puerto Rico. This research was approved by IRB Campus of Rio Piedras, CIPSHI.

African American Female Faculty in Predominantly White Graduate Schools of Social Work

This study of African American female faculty in predominantly White schools of social work was designed to examine the unique experience of these faculties. The examination also aimed to develop a better understanding of the challenges and the experiences of these faculty members. This exploratory study sampled African American female social work faculty from predominantly White schools of social work in the United States. The authors were specifically interested in identifying psychosocial factors that undergird the nature of the experiences of these women. The special challenges of these women are discussed from the framework of Kanter's theory of proportional representation and the tenets of relational/cultural theory.

The Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma: A tool for training a trauma-informed workforce.

Recognition of the nationwide high prevalence of psychological trauma in children and adolescents, combined with increasing awareness of the far-reaching adverse consequences of childhood trauma, have led to calls to develop a trauma-informed mental health workforce. We describe the initial pilot test of the Core Concepts portion of the Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma, as conducted in a large graduate school of social work. The Core Curriculum uses detailed case vignettes of trauma-exposed youth and families, combined with problem-based learning methods, to promote two primary learning aims: (a) to enhance the development of foundational trauma-related conceptual knowledge, and (b) to accelerate the acquisition of trauma-informed clinical reasoning and clinical judgment. Vignettes are presented in segments to simulate gathering, organizing, drawing meaning from, and making decisions based on information in professional practice. After each segment, the facilitator helps learners to summarize relevant facts, develop hunches and hypotheses, identify learning issues, and plan next steps. The Curriculum was very favorably received by students and was associated with marked increases in self-efficacy in applying the Core Concepts to work with trauma-exposed youth and families. We discuss ways in which the Curriculum can be used, especially as a foundation for training in specific evidence-based treatment protocols, to help prepare a national mental health workforce capable of implementing trauma-informed evidence-based practice.