Social Work Education Programs Research Articles

Are we advancing the quality of social work research?: An assessment of quantitative research published in social work journals

Summary Social work has grappled with quality of its knowledge base for over a hundred years. In the tradition of critical self-examination, this study was conducted to describe the methods employed in quantitative studies published in social work journals and to assess the extent to which they conform to widely accepted standards of quality. A random sample of 120 articles published in the top thirteen social work journals from 2010 to 2015 were reviewed to identify indicators of quality and rigor. Additional data on citations per year were collected through July 2022. Findings Most studies were cross-sectional and descriptive in nature (62%). While the majority of articles addressed the limitations of the study, only 40% contained reference to theory and 15% described how missing data were handled. Citations per year averaged 4.82, and citations per year exhibited a small, statistically significant positive association with quality indicators and reviewer global evaluations, but not with journal impact factor. Results did underscore the role of doctoral programs in promoting quality research. Applications Social work education programs should continue emphasizing quality social work research methodologies, particularly given the move toward postpositivism as a profession. We note a cycle of disincentivization may be occurring, where social work researchers take their best work to higher impact factor, non-social work journals. We also suggest lack of traditional indicators of rigor may be the result of “concerted resistance” to borrowed epistemologies; we call for consensus-based measures of rigor that reflect the realities of the social work profession.

Mental Health Disclosure in Social Work Education: Opportunities and Discrimination

ABSTRACT Disclosures of lived experience with mental health conditions by faculty and students in social work education programs have the potential to increase knowledge about mental health conditions, dispel myths, and possibly improve future practice with individuals living with these conditions. There is minimal research about programs’ practices regarding student disclosure or about faculty disclosure decisions. Informed by an antioppression framework, this exploratory study used an online survey of deans and directors, Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work coordinators, and field education coordinators of Counsel on Social Work Education–accredited programs (N = 320). We asked: (a) under what circumstances respondents recommend to students that they disclose and not disclose their conditions to class or field instructors, and (b) for those with mental health conditions, what factors influence their workplace disclosure decisions. Findings include that some respondents prioritize student preferences and recognize multiple benefits of disclosure, but many place constraints on student disclosure, consider disclosure unprofessional, or accept myths about people with mental health conditions. Faculty make personal workplace disclosure decisions based on trust and relevance. Implications for welcoming students and faculty with mental health conditions include recognizing potential benefits of disclosure and addressing mental illness discrimination in academia and field.

Implicit Biases and Racial Microaggressions: Examining the Impact on Black Social Work Students’ Well-Being

ABSTRACT This paper explores the concept of racial microaggressions, everyday slights and offensive behaviors experienced by people of color, particularly focusing on their manifestation within social work education programs. Black social work students, in particular, frequently encounter instances tied to stereotypes about their intellectual abilities, perpetuating historical prejudices and contributing to mental health challenges such as anxiety and impostor phenomenon (IP). The historical trauma endured by Black individuals adds a distinct layer to the struggles faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students in social work education. Despite the evident impact, there exists a significant gap in scholarship addressing these issues, emphasizing the urgent need for the social work profession to confront and comprehend how implicit biases and racial microaggressions impede the success of Black social work students. This theoretical exploration aims to spark vital dialogue on the manifestations of implicit biases and racial microaggressions, probing their link to feelings of IP and historical trauma. Central to this inquiry is the examination of the critical consciousness framework’s efficacy in social work education, uncovering its role in raising awareness among professionals regarding their inadvertent perpetuation of oppressive systems. By leveraging this framework, the paper seeks to unearth structures of oppression and privilege, promoting awareness of unintentional complicity in upholding these structures. Recommendations align with the critical consciousness framework, advocating for future dialogues and the implementation of effective microaggression scales to incorporate and analyze frequencies and the impact of racism in social work research.

Social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand: the impacts of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing

ABSTRACT In Aotearoa New Zealand, approximately 3000 people are enrolled in a recognized social work education programme at any one time. A collaboration between researchers at two social work education providers sought to understand the experiences of student financial hardship, and its impact on wellbeing, amongst current social work students and recent graduates. In total, 346 students and recent graduates participated in a survey that gathered information Glossary of te reo Māori terms regarding financial circumstances, caring responsibilities, mental health and social wellbeing. As social work qualifications require a significant component of unpaid field education, this study reflects growing interest in the financial impact of studying for a social work qualification. This article explores some of the findings with particular focus on the impact of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing. In particular, the study found that nearly one in four respondents reported experiencing moderate or severe financial hardship while studying, and that this had a significant impact on their mental and social wellbeing. In addition, those with caring responsibilities, especially accumulative caring responsibilities for children and others, were more likely to experience financial hardship. These results add weight to the call for greater support for those preparing to enter the social work workforce.

Training Master of Social Work Students in Brief Intervention for Unhealthy Alcohol Use: Results of a Validated Adherence Assessment.

Many social workers receive limited training in working with clients engaged in unhealthy substance use. As a result, national organizations and agencies such as the Council on Social Work Education and individual social work programs are beginning to address this need by incorporating training into higher education social work programs. The purpose of this study was to examine Master of Social Work (MSW) students' adherence to a brief intervention protocol for unhealthy alcohol use. A total of 91 MSW students consented to the assessment of their digital, audio-recorded class assignment by independent raters. Although 90% of MSW student participants were found to be overall adherent to the protocol, gaps in training quality were also identified. Lessons learned for addressing the gaps are discussed, along with future directions for teaching and learning in social work related to substance use.

Social Work Professional Competencies and Educational Programs Specialized Practice. Theoretical Analysis

The practice of social work starts from the period of university education – bachelor and master educational programs, where students are guided, supervised by experienced professionals to develop the competencies and skills of relating to clients of social work services, step by step. The purpose of this work is to theoretically analyze the relation between specialized education programs during bachelor's and master's studies and the desired competencies of social workers. We will refer to the international literature to understand a global perspective on the practice of social work from the perspective of education in the field. We will focus on the identification of key competencies of social workers, in Romanian and American social work practice and educational system

The effect of climate change anxiety on social work students in Turkey

This study aims to explore the impact of climate change anxiety on various aspects of social work and examine the relationship between anxiety and socio-demographic variables. The study’s participants comprised students enrolled in social work education programs in Turkey. The results suggest that students who are highly anxious about climate change express anxiety regarding various problem areas within social work. The study suggests that anxieties about climate change can potentially lead to anxiety within social work domains, thus exerting a negative impact on social work policy and practices.

Impact assessment of academic support provided by tertiary learning advisors

In New Zealand higher education (HE), there is a lack of consistent ways of collecting evidence of the impact made by academic literacy support from Tertiary Learning Advisors (TLAs) on students’ academic performance, retention, and success. TLAs in New Zealand and Australia are primarily involved in providing learning support to students in post-secondary education to encourage development of their academic literacy and essential study skills. They are professional educators who advise students on issues related to academic writing and other academic skills, such as time management or exam preparation, to facilitate achievement of students’ goals of tertiary study (Griffith University, 2021). While it may be recognised that provision of learning support is desirable for a meaningful and successful HE experience for many students, hard evidence that learning support makes a difference to student retention and academic performance is difficult to find (Acheson, 2006, as cited in Breen and Prothero, 2015). This presentation sought to share an attempt to address this issue by investigating the impact of embedded academic literacy support provided by TLAs to three cohorts of students enrolled in undergraduate social work and early childhood education programs at my ITP (Institute of Technology and Polytechnic) in Auckland, New Zealand. Existing research in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom suggests that support that embeds academic literacy development in disciplines, rather than academic support that is generic and/or provided through foundation courses, represents a best practice model (Glew et al., 2019).

Social Work Education Anti-Racism (SWEAR) Scale

ABSTRACT Social work education programs in the U.S. are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Amendments made to the 2022 competencies reflect antiracism language, which requires assessment opportunities in the classroom moving forward. An assessment tool that assesses efficacy across the four domains, specifically related to antiracism, is essential for practice readiness, assessment, and accountability for future professional social workers. This article presents the Social Work Education Anti-Racism Scale to help programs assess their progress toward preparing social work students to become practitioners who embrace antiracism. The final scale included 30 items on five subscales related to antiracism: knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes, and professional responsibility. Applications for accredited social work programs are discussed.

Mentalizing Capacity Partially Mediates the Relationship Between Attachment and Stress, Depression, and Anxiety in Social Work Students

AbstractSocial work students experience high levels of stress, which makes them vulnerable to stress-related disorders such as depression. Attachment security has been associated with better stress regulation. Another factor that is closely associated with attachment is mentalization, i.e., the ability to reflect about one's own and others’ mental states, which may also influence the way people cope with stress. The main aim of the study was to investigate the impact of attachment and mentalization on stress, depression, and anxiety in social work students. 460 social work students completed the short version of the "Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire” (ECR-RD8), “Relationship Questionnaire” (RQ-2), “Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire” (CAMSQ), “Perceived Stress Scale” (PSS-10) as well as the “Patient Health Questionnaire” (PHQ-9) and the “Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale” (GAD-7) in a cross-sectional research design. The majority of the current social work students (71.1%) were assigned to an insecure attachment style and reported noticeably high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Insecurely attached students showed even higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety compared to securely attached students. Moreover, the results indicate that securely attached students have better mentalizing skills and that mentalizing skills (partially) mediated the effect of attachment security on perceived stress, depression, and anxiety. Due to the importance of mentalization for stress regulation, mental health, and the quality of relationships, programs promoting mentalization in social work students should be implemented in social work education programs.

Teaching Embodied Self-Care as Self-Preservation in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT Self-care is receiving increased emphasis in the NASW Code of Ethics, and while social work programs may teach about self-care, it has yet to be embedded in the curriculum. This paper examines the idea of self-care being taught using an embodied framework and integrated throughout social work education programs. Research examining social work educators’ thoughts about self-care within the curriculum and how they educate students about self-care practices is explored and analyzed within the context of the framework, suggesting there is a foundation to build upon but work that still needs to be done to address some misconceptions before embodied self-care is fully recognized and embedded in social work education. To build upon that foundation, the authors introduce an embodied self-care framework and suggest ways for self-care to be infused throughout the curriculum.

Social Work Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Therapeutic Yoga

Body-based interventions such as yoga are becoming increasingly common as evidence-based practices in social work and therapeutic treatment. However, yoga is rarely taught as a therapeutic practice in social work educational programs. This study examined social work students’ knowledge and interest in yoga as both a physical exercise and therapeutic approach. 213 social work students from two mid- to large- sized universities in a Midwest state completed a survey. The survey results showed that students are interested in participating in yoga as well as learning yoga as a therapeutic approach for their clinical practice. A few students noted concerns about cultural appropriation and using interventions to fit the individual client. Training in yoga as a therapeutic intervention could be added into existing social work programs to increase the ability of future social workers to provide this intervention to their clients.

Narrative discussions to support social work competence

ABSTRACT Few studies examine the relationship between instructional approaches and required social work competencies in graduate social work education. Further, effective social work education programs must infuse and address issues of social, racial, economic and environmental justice, creating opportunities for reflexive education. To enhance the integration of field and practice class, and support the development of core social work competencies, we developed a novel teaching method using nonfiction health narratives (memoir excerpt, article, newspaper editorial, etc.). Through engagement with written narratives, students enhance skills of critical self-reflection, deep listening, and analysis of social inequities. Using a qualitative approach we asked open-response questions about students’ experience of nonfiction narratives in supporting their acquisition of social work competence and quantified the extent to which the use of nonfiction narratives aligned with students’ development in the selected competencies. Overall, four themes emerged from student responses: cultivating empathy, deepening listening skills, fostering appreciation for diversity, and developing a professional identity, and quantitative data identified strong alignment between the use of nonfiction narratives and developing social work competence.

Connecting worlds: social work educators’ perceptions on the role of lived experience in pedagogic practice

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores social work educators’ perceptions on the role of lived experience in teaching within undergraduate and postgraduate social work education programmes across universities in Britain. Thirty-five semi-structured online interviews were conducted with social work educators from 27 universities across Scotland, Wales and England. Findings were that educators indicated specific ways that people with lived experience (PwLE) can transform student learning. They give an opportunity to expose students to different perspectives, challenge stereotypes about people who access services, help students reflect on their own personal and professional values, demonstrate that the curriculum is connected to and grounded in the real world, and provide crucial preparation before practice. While the extant literature highlights the positive benefits of PwLE involvement in higher education programmes, ongoing work is required to support PwLE involvement consistently and sustainably, and to ensure more diverse representation of PwLE in order that students are exposed to a broader, real world understanding of practice.

Preparing students for interprofessional collaboration in services for children with special needs in Finland: A document analysis

Introduction Multiple types of support and expertise are needed for the benefit of children with special needs, with the collaboration between psychologists, social workers and special education teachers playing a key role. Here, we studied the extent of their academic training in interprofessional collaboration. Methods A document analysis of 24 curricula with 1699 courses from eight Finnish universities was applied. The courses focused on interprofessional collaboration were selected for the analysis. The course information was analysed with descriptive statistical methods, content analysis and qualitative quantification. Results A total of 38 courses focused on interprofessional collaboration. The courses were often mandatory; however, in psychology, they were often optional. The content of the courses included the basis of interprofessional collaboration, collaboration skills, and service systems and network familiarity. Two courses were common for the social work, psychology and special education programmes. Various learning methods were used, with five courses being based on independent online self-study. Discussion Considering the need for studies focusing on interprofessional collaboration, it was contradictory that these were largely maintained within one discipline and some were realised as independent self-studies. The variability of the curricula may reflect on students’ professional skills. For the collaboration of professionals working with children with special needs, it is also needed to deepen familiarity with cross-sectional services and the school system.

Kompetensprofilen hos undervisande personal på socionomutbildningar

The competence profile of teaching staff in social work education programs - a strategic issue for the field of social work
 In the past four decades, the higher education in social work has expanded greatly in Sweden, but analyses of what this development means for the field of social work are few. No scientific text pays specifically attention to the competence profile of the teaching staff. The aim of this article is to investigate the quality of the education with a focus on the competence profile among teaching staff in social work education programs. The competence profile is analysed by studying the competence on social work as academic discipline (Bachelor of Science in Social Work for non-PhD teaching staff and PhD in social work for staff with doctoral degree) and scientific level (PhD among the teaching staff) based on two quality criteria: two-thirds of the teaching staff with doctoral degree and two-thirds with social work as their main academic discipline. The article has a comparative approach by comparing both the competence profile between higher education institutions with social work programs 2020 and the development between 2008-2020. The article uses quantifiable data that has been collected through a survey with basic facts about the teaching stuff from all institutions with social work programs and statistical data from the Swedish Higher Education Authority. The analyses of the empirical material has led to two main conclusions regarding the competence profile of teaching staff: none of the higher education institution with social work program in Sweden meets both quality criteria and the differences between the institutions risk to develop an stratified higher education with a hierarchy between social work programs with negative consequences for the discipline as well as for the students’, labour market entry after graduation and for clients.

Paradoxes, contradictions, and dilemmas: Reflections on the contours of a pandemic and its implications for social work education.

This is a reflective and theoretical article that discusses the impact of COVID-19 on social work practice. The pandemic, which made its presence felt globally from early 2020, continues to have ongoing and significant consequences for lives, livelihoods, public health, and personal freedoms. We argue that, while its specific contours are yet to be comprehensively researched, let alone the final outcomes understood, the pandemic has presented opportunities to develop new ways of thinking about social work and social work education. Through a discussion of relevant literature, including a recent work of fiction, we contend that social workers have been able to adapt, to some extent, to the pandemic but in reactive rather than proactive ways. The biopsychosocial and person-in-environment perspectives that characterize social work education, theory, and practice might be greatly enhanced by the introduction of complexity theory in terms of developing new thinking about the theoretical basis of social work, enabling new questions and new strategies to emerge to strengthen social work responses to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Arising from this theoretical article, there are many implications for introducing complexity theory within social work education programs. Complexity theory can provide a conceptual frame fit-for-purpose for social work pandemic and post-pandemic theory and practice.

Transphobia in Class, Anti-trans Legislation at the State: A Commentary on Navigating Harm and Hope in a Social Work Education Program

EG (they/them): I was misgendered on day one of my BSW program; isolation and transphobia continued for two years. While I did my best to advocate for myself, I learned that you can't fight institutionally entrenched oppression alone.

“An Institution Can Have Good Intentions and Still Be Atrocious": Transgender and Gender Expansive Experiences in Social Work Education

Educational settings have been found to be challenging arenas for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) youth and young adults due to misgendering, lack of affirming bathrooms, systemic exclusion (e.g., legal names and lack of inclusive gender identity demographic options), and frequent silence or avoidance related to TGE issues. Though studies of TGE adult experiences in higher education are emerging, most explore disaffirming experiences. Social work education focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with how to promote social justice, which suggests more affirming environments for TGE individuals. However, little is known about the experiences of TGE students and even less about faculty in social work education. To help fill this gap, the researchers interviewed 23 TGE social work students and faculty to explore their experiences of gender-related affirmation and challenges in social work educational programs. The findings from a thematic analysis identified examples of affirming and disaffirming experiences and recommendations for improving gender affirmation and inclusion in social work programs. Social work is in a strategic position to serve the needs and impact the social welfare of TGE individuals, starting with educational settings.

Social Work Educational Programs in Ukraine: State of the Art and Challenges of Accreditation

Social Work Educational Programs in Ukraine: State of the Art and Challenges of Accreditation