Professional identity and continuing education: A study of social workers in hospital settings

In a Master of Social Work study, looking at Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for social workers, it was found that the profession's status and image are linked to the status of continuing professional education. Other major findings were that the schools of social work have not inculcated the concept of CPE into undergraduates as a norm, and that until the recent establishment of the National Continuing Professional Education and Practice Standards Project, the profession itself had not accorded CPE a high status. Such long-term neglect has impacted on the position of social work in organisations and on the professional identity of workers. The study was undertaken from a qualitative perspective, with the data arising from the field. Interviews were held in focus groups which consisted of social workers in teaching hospitals at various levels: new graduates of less than two years experience, experienced workers of more than five years experience and co-ordinators of CPE programs. The interviews were guided by an inquiry instrument, and conducted at six metropolitan hospitals in Melbourne with fifty social workers participating.     

Continuing Social Work Education: Results of a Delphi Survey

This study addresses the need for social work professionals to remain current with the changing bases of knowledge and skills that impact on their daily experience. Continuing social work education is assumed to be one of the most effective means of avoiding professional obsolescence. The purposes of the study were to achieve a level of consensus relative to theories, methodologies, and content areas of continuing social work education and then to project a functional model of continuing social work education useful for intermediate and long-range program planning.     

Continuing Education as an Effective Linkage between Schools of Social Work and the Practice Community

Establishing viable linkages between social work education and practice has been a constant concern of educators and practitioners. Traditional linkages such as agency field placements and agency-based research have not materially strengthened relationships. Continuing education can be an effective linkage between schools and practitioners, providing two conditions are met. First, continuing education programs must be centrally administered as part of the mainstream of the school's curriculum. Second, both practitioners and administrators must be engaged actively in curriculum planning, implementation, and evaluation. The Extramural MSW Program and the Child Welfare Training Project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are used as illustrations.     

Services for substance abuse-affected families: The project connect experience

With more families entering the child welfare system with problems of substance abuse, there is an increasing need for programs that can respond effectively to these families' needs. This article describes one community-based program designed to support and strengthen families with an identified problem of substance abuse. parents' progress in addressing their problems with substance abuse, reduction of risk in Project families. children's placement experiences, and client satisfaction are discussed. The article concludes with implications for practice with substance abuse-affected families.Project Connect is funded by a grant from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, U. S. Department of health and Human Services. It is administered by the Rhode Island Center for Children-at-Risk, which is a program of Children's Friend and Service, Providence, Rhode Island. Project Connect is operated under contract from the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families. The author wishes to acknowledge the staff of Project Connect and the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families without whose contributions this work would not have been possible.     

Statewide substance abuse prevention planning

The State of Rhode Island contracted with the authors to prepare a statewide, comprehensive substance abuse prevention plan. The literature review revealed a lack of research on statewide planning for prevention services. To obtain data for Rhode Island's plan, the authors conducted a family of studies including synthetic estimation, key informant interviews, a telephone survey of agency directors, program budget analysis, construction of a statistical index for estimating the optimal geographic allocation of prevention dollars, and a review of General Laws regarding tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Their recommendations include the increased funding and coordination of prevention services, allocating services according to need rather than population size, greater use of social policy as a prevention tool, and a shift in primary prevention programming from senior high to lower grades and in program emphasis from information-education to psychosocial programs.     

Protecting Clients From Harm: The Role of Continuing Professional Education

Abstract

In the absence of professional regulation and in the context of a changing and competitive environment, the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) encourages member commitment to self-regulation and continuing professional education (CPE). Continuing professional education is promoted as the platform upon which the credibility of the entire profession of social work and the maintenance of high-quality standards of practice rest. High practice standards are integral to the protection of vulnerable people from potential unethical, inappropriate and harmful practice. The present article asserts that Australia's changing and competitive environment, driven by prevailing ideologies and policies, has an impact on social work practice and is harmful to vulnerable clients. In order to protect vulnerable clients from harm and to maintain high standards of practice, the AASW's CPE programme arguably needs to include topics that enhance professional knowledge of current ideologies and policies and their impact on social work practice and clients.     

Social Work Practice and Education in México

Social work education and practice in Mexico has emphasized need for social change, family, and community involvement. Education includes casework, group work, and community organization with extensive field work experience that is community based. Education programs rely heavily on literature from South American countries including liberation theory such as that espoused by Paolo Friere. Social work education at the college level prepares graduates for practice, with a licencia. Social Workers in Mexico work in medical settings, children's services, rehabilitation, family services, work settings and a variety of community based programs. Mexico has begun to develop graduate education. Education in the US, Canada, Mexico and other countries could be enhanced with further exchanges of faculty, students and literature.     

Interventions to Developing Community Partnerships for HIV Prevention Planning

Abstract

Since 1985 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have entered into a series of cooperative agreements with the states and territories of the United States to fund human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention activities. In 1994, the CDC mandate shifted from using a central entity to plan HIV prevention programs throughout its jurisdictions to fostering partnerships among a central state or territorial agency, health departments in local counties, and community-based organizations. This article discusses and applies a model developed by social workers to facilitate HIV prevention community planning at the local level. The model used to facilitate community planning emphasizes the use of the social principles of empowerment, self-determination, ownership, and inclusion to foster the development of community-relevant HIV prevention plans. This approach resulted in the completion of a successful HIV prevention plan, and application for continuing and supplemental funds ($6.6 million and $1.2 million respectively) from the CDC for HIV prevention efforts, the continued use of the model in HIV prevention planning, and the ability to use the principles of the model as a basis for providing future technical assistance in community planning.     

Out-migration and ethnic communities

"Comparative analysis of out-migration [in the United States]...reveals substantial ethnic differentials. Part of the variation results from group compositional differences in social class and other characteristics normally related to migration, particularly age, education and local birth. Equally important, however, are indicators of social and economic bonds." The data concern 3,345 adults who were first interviewed between 1967 and 1969 in Rhode Island and were reinterviewed in 1970, 1971, and 1979. "The results suggest that ethnic groups characterized by a dense network of social and economic ties do not sponsor out-migration, which has been the emphasis of many past studies of chain migration and migrant assimilation. Rather, they deter out-migration by providing alternative opportunities within the ethnic community."     

Review article

This paper attempts to discuss the Chinese cultural implications of the recently proposed document: ‘Global Qualifying Standards for Social Work Education’ by the IASSW and IFSW. It seems that this document still embraces an ideology of western social work imperialism in perceiving the development of social work in other countries. With reference to Chinese culture and social work education in Hong Kong and in mainland China, the writer advocates that responsibility and rights, stability and changes, social norms and equality, as well as empowerment and relation, should be fully articulated in the definition, ethical principles, and core purpose of social work practice as well as in the mission and curriculum in social work education within Chinese communities.     

Environmental Justice Is a Social Justice Issue: Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Social Work Practice Curricula

Social justice education for social work practice is concerned with addressing issues of power and oppression as they impact intersections of identity, experience, and the social environment. However, little focus is directed toward the physical and natural environment despite overwhelming evidence that traditionally marginalized groups bear the burden of environmental problems. In this article, we discuss environmental disaster impacts on marginalized communities, presence of environmental justice in social work literature, and opportunities for integrating environmental justice into social work’s mandated disciplinary competencies. We conclude with an example of a module implemented in a foundation Social Justice for Social Work Practice course using place-based education principles as an illustration of concrete strategies for incorporating environmental justice into social justice curricula.     

BSW Students of Color: Principle Factors Influencing Intent to Persist Through Completion of Degree

Students of color remain underrepresented in social work education programs. According to the Council on Social Work Education (2016), only 37.4% of the 19,596 BSW degrees awarded during the 2014–2015 academic year were awarded to students from historically underrepresented groups. Through the lens of empowerment theory, this article presents a conceptual framework for understanding the varied and nuanced influencing factors contributing to BSW students’ intent to persist through completion of degree. This article explores ways social work education programs can provide opportunities for students to demonstrate that they are motivated and competent learners who intend to persist in their social work education endeavors. Findings will inform postmatriculation activities such as academic advising and field-practicum.     

Voice Inclusive Practice,Digital Literacy and Children's Participatory Rights

This paper posits the need to align child participation principles and the emerging field of digital pedagogies. Informed by a contextualisation of children's participatory rights in contemporary technologically enhanced classrooms, the challenges of facilitating Voice Inclusive Practices are explored. Education is experiencing unprecedented change, particularly in the area of digital pedagogies, student engagement and voice. Such developments necessitate a participatory, Voice Inclusive Practice model relevant to contemporary education contexts where digital pedagogies are engaged. The potential of digital spaces in education will only be fully realised when student perspectives are included in the planning and implementation of digital pedagogies.     

The Professional Schools. By William J. McGlothlin. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education, 1964. 111 pp. $3.95

This paper presents a conceptual framework for viewing social planning and social administration as one “seamless web” of activity concerned with the identification of goals and the development of appropriate administrative structures for their implementation. The major educational implication of this analysis is that curriculum planning should maximize the integration of social policy, social planning, and administration. Alternative approaches to achieving this integration are discussed using data from a recent Council on Social Work Education survey.     

Challenges,Changes, and Impact of the Council on Social Work Education Women’s Council: An Update

This article highlights the contributions of the Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education (Women’s Council) as well as the role and status of women in social work education. For this historical analysis update, the authors drew on several primary and secondary data sources. The first major theme was organizational development (e.g., organizational commitment, strategic planning, and sustainability). The second major theme was contributions to social work education (e.g., furthering the knowledge base, influencing accreditation standards, and monitoring equity). These major themes and subthemes remained constant from the previous publication on the history of the WC (Alvarez et al., 2008), underscoring the resilience, commitment and persistence of the WC to keep a sharp focus on infusing feminist perspectives into social work education.     

Mixed‐Method Evaluation of Continuing Professional Development: Applications in Cultural Competence Training

Continuing professional development has been identified as an important tool for advancing the competence of social workers, yet outcomes of professional development are conventionally evaluated using methods that cannot provide trustworthy information about program effectiveness. This paper suggests that innovations in social research can be applied to strengthen the evaluation of educational outcomes from continuing professional development. The benefits of designing a mixed‐method evaluation of educational interventions are explored by reviewing the experience of implementing a cultural competence continuing professional development workshop series in Toronto, Canada. Review of the process demonstrates that the combination of methods results in a richer data set that can answer questions about both the process of the learning experience, and the effect that training has on professional practice.     

Domestic Violence Screening

Because domestic violence is a serious threat to women’s lives and well-being, social workers are encouraged to screen, assess, and implement intervention. National Association of Social Workers members from Florida were surveyed in order to understand their screening barriers and behaviors. Participants with more Continuing Education Units, agency inservice hours, and additional training perceived fewer barriers to screening, screened more, and identified more domestic violence victims. Multiple regression analysis showed that perceived self-efficacy, paperwork screening reminders, and inservice training hours explained 38.5% (35.8% adjusted) of the variability in screening behaviors. Screening is an important component in the process of helping battered women.     

New Labour and education

This article documents some of New Labour's education policies which, despite a rhetoric of inclusion, have largely ensured that education remains divided and divisive. Continuing faith in market choice and competition; continuing selection by private, grammar and specialist schools; a ‘diversity’ of schools with unequal intakes and resources; a standards agenda that requires more testing, assessment and centralised control of teachers and the curriculum; and a retention of an academic‐vocational divide has sharpened divisions and insecurities rather than working for the common good. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response to Nazneen Mayadas

California has actively engaged in the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative. Subsequently, the California Social Work Education Center Aging Initiative conducted a university survey of gerontology education in California graduate social work schools (N?=?17). In 2005, students taking aging courses were 12% in comparison to a national report of 7% by the Council on Social Work Education and an earlier 1993 national survey of 3%. Still, the number of gerontology students remains less than needed numbers. However, California social work schools are well-prepared with infused curricula for all social workers and exceed previous standards for gerontology faculty and aging field placements. The implications for California are discussed as well as recommendations for updating the earlier gerontology curricula criteria.