Development and Application of a Standards-Based Inventory of Foundation Competencies in Social Work with Groups

The International Association for Social Work with Groups Standards for the Practice of Social Work with Groups is an essential document for advancing practice and teaching about social work with groups. However, surveys have reported that many group workers know little about the Standards or about how to teach or apply group work knowledge and skills. This article summarizes the research on the development of a reliable and valid inventory based on the Standards and an effective teaching strategy to improve learning about the Standards. The inventory and teaching method provide tools for advancing evidence-based practice and teaching.     

Assessing Use of the Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups by School Social Workers: A National Study

The International Association for Social Work with Groups Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups specify the core knowledge, skills, and values needed for effective professional practice. These Standards are intended to serve as a guide to group work practice. The extent to which the Standards inform and are employed in practice, however, remains a question. This article focuses on the extent to which the Standards are utilized by social workers employed within primary and secondary schools. Focus is placed on how the Standards are perceived, understood, and practiced by school social workers.     

The Use of IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups in Supervision of Group Work Practitioners

This article describes a model for supervision for practicing group leaders. The content and process of the model is participant driven, with the International Association for Social Work with Groups Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups used as a core element to guide development of the model as well as the support offered by the supervisor and participants.     

History of the Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups: A Partial View

This article provides a historical and first-person narrative about the development of the IASWG Standards for Social Work with Groups by someone intimately involved in their germination and development. Beginning with review of early roots of standards for social work with groups, this article presents a journey through the formation of the Committee for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups in 1979, framing ideas that found their way into the first edition of the AASWG Standards of 1998, and the process of developing the second, current edition. It provides a rare look into how a professional organization struggled to create a seminal document.     

IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups: The Case of Quebec Practices

The International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG) proposes Standards of social group work that are intended to act as minimum standards that can be applied internationally. The aim of this article is to examine group work practices in Quebec in the light of IASWG Standards. To address this question, secondary analysis of existing data from a study undertaken in Quebec is presented. Results indicate that group work practices in Quebec tend to be rather structured (e.g., selection criteria, norms). The discussion shows that the IASWG Standards are useful for critically examining Quebec practices but also provides information that could contribute to the improvement of these Standards.     

Group Work Education Today: A Content Analysis of MSW Group Work Course Syllabi

This article presents the results of a content analysis of MSW group work course syllabi in an effort to better understand the extent to which social group work education shows consistency with guidelines articulated in the Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups. This study aims to provide a current depiction and in-depth account of the state of group work education today through the lens of course syllabi.     

The Group Values of Educational Encounters: Working with Service Users and Students in a Participatory Classroom Environment

This article examines a participatory educational group approach to involving service users in a social work education programme. In particular it focuses on the skills and values that informed the lecturer's management of this group process and the relevance of the International Association for Social Work with Groups Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups to the purpose of the group as well as to how this group was facilitated.     

The BSW Social Work Curriculum: Teaching Strategies,Case Material,and Assignments for Teaching Group Work

This article is a companion piece to another article appearing in this special edition of Social Work with Groups on group work content for the generalist practice curriculum. In this article, techniques that assist the instructor in presenting the material on group work in the classroom are identified. These techniques, which include case material and classroom exercises, also help students connect their field and classroom learning about group work. The activities discussed in this article derive from the core group work content discussed in the previous article.     

A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training

Sakaguchi H, Sewpaul V. A comparison of social work education across South Africa and Japan in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 192–202 © 2009 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article draws on a one‐year study visit to the University of KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, interviews with field supervisors and students in Japan and reviews of the national frameworks of education in Japan and in South Africa. In doing so, the authors identify the similarities and differences in social work education across the two countries and they explore some of the historical and socio‐cultural factors that might account for the differences. There are some identifiable peculiarities in social work education in Japan, especially with the coalescing of care work and social work education. The lack of differentiation between care work and social work makes it difficult to narrow the scope of social work education and practice. National social work standards have been approved in South Africa and regulatory frameworks for social work education and practice have been long accepted, thus rendering ‘social work’ a protected title and a profession that is more entrenched compared with social work in Japan. The codes of ethics in Japan and South Africa are discussed with specific reference to their control functions in South Africa. The article concludes by discussing these comparisons in relation to the Global Standards for Social Work Education.     

Challenges in Rural Social Work Practice: When Support Groups Contain Your Neighbors,Church Members,and the PTA

Rural social work occurs in unique practice environments with challenges and rare opportunities. Strong social ties, commonly found in rural communities and often missing in urban areas, can serve as sources of resilience for group members facing adverse life circumstances. Therapeutic formal and informal support groups, bolstered by this support and led by social workers in rural communities, can face numerous challenges due to locale, lack of transportation, and potential worker burnout. This article highlights ethical considerations rooted in a theme of rural group work while providing helpful hints based on the IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups.     

Group Work and Social Justice: Designing Pedagogy for Social Change

In this article the authors explore the gap between education and action in putting the social work core value of social justice into practice. Describing how their School of Social Work has taken up this challenge, the authors analyze how a new social action course helps bridge this gap and draw on student reflection on their experiences and assignments in the course to show how students concretize and interiorize the meaning of social action and social justice. Learning by doing social action through a case study, group work becomes the vehicle through which students act on social issues and work for social change.     

Relighting the Campfire: Rediscovering Activity-Based Group Work

Group Work Camp, sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups (AASWG) and held during the summers of 2009 and 2011 on the campus of George Williams College of Aurora University, provided unique opportunities for educators, practitioners, and students to experience the power of collective action and activity/experience-based groups. The camp reminded participants of the origins of the group work movement and how the prevalence of experientially based group practice has diminished over the past few decades. Further, this camp experience served as an awakening and may have particular import for U.S.-based practitioners to align with emerging trends in global social group work.     

Going to Camp Together: Lighting the Group Work Fire in a New Generation

This article describes the structure and process of Group Work Camp, an experiential training program sponsored by the International Association for Social Work with Groups (IASWG). The purpose of this 3-day event, which offers workshops and activities in a camp environment, is to transmit the skills, culture, and philosophy of social work with groups to students and new professionals. Camp also aims to connect participants to the group work community through interaction with skilled and enthusiastic professionals and educators. Participants live together as a large group and engage in ever-changing small groups. They learn primarily by experiencing group membership in the present moment, reflecting on this experience, and then discussing its implications. As the Chinese proverb says, “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand.” In the course of this experiential learning process participants develop strong connections with peers and mentors and become familiar with IASWG, a resource for support and stimulation that will be invaluable as they pursue group work practice in an environment likely to isolate them from group work peers. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of this model for group work education, supervision, and practice.     

Skills for Recovery: A Recovery-Oriented Dual Diagnosis Group for Veterans with Serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) are at a high risk for abusing alcohol and illicit substances relative to the general population. This use, even in small quantities, can negatively affect mental and physical health. Group therapy is an evidence-based treatment for individuals dually diagnosed with SMI and a substance abuse disorder. The Skills for Recovery group used a recovery-oriented therapy manual for dual diagnoses and was informed by the International Association for Social Work with Groups' Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups throughout the development and implementation of the group.     

Exploring Autonomy in Group Work Practice with Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

Preserving the autonomy of individuals with intellectual disabilities in group work is challenging. Group workers often experience inadequate guidance about autonomy—an individual's capability to act independently without influence by others. Group workers can enhance autonomy through group activities that promote self-efficacy, empowerment, and the ability to make decisions. Fostering autonomy requires that the group workers be knowledgeable and aware of personal biases, analyzing their expectations and actions. To promote the autonomy of persons with intellectual disabilities in group work practice, the authors make recommendations to strengthen the IASWG Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups in this area.     

Group Work Education: A Call for Renewed Commitment

Studies demonstrate steady decline in group work courses and concentration in graduate social work programs. This is attributed to the Council on Social Work Education’s recommendation, in 1969, for a generalist practice model; the growing interest of professional social workers in developing casework skills, including psychiatric casework; and the influence of perspectives from nonsocial work disciplines. This article proposes renewed efforts to strengthen social group work education and concerted collaboration between classroom and field. It focuses on essential course content, emphasizes social group work perspectives, and identifies core social group work concepts and tools for inclusion in curriculum and field education.     

RAP Therapy: A Group Work Intervention Method for Urban Adolescents

ABSTRACT

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) places a premium on the development of cultural competence among practitioners. To this end, the present study highlights how social work practitioners, specifically group work leaders, can utilize elements of the culture of urban adolescents to develop effective group work intervention strategies. The article compares adolescent participants' perceptions of usefulness of traditional group therapy and similar group work sessions using RAP music as a conduit to support prosocial skills development. A nomenclature of three adolescent groups was tested: violent offenders, status offenders, and a control condition of high school students with no criminal history. Findings were unequivocally in favor of the RAP therapy as a tool for advancing prosocial behavior.     

Little Red Riding Hood goes to jail: An experience of participative writing with students and detainees

ABSTRACT

This article illustrates how Little Red Riding Hood has been used in a workshop conducted in prison aimed at a mixed audience of students participating in a Social Work Degree Course and detainees. First of all, it presents concepts at the core of the didactic part of the workshop. Second, the methodological path that has characterized the experiential side of the seminar is illustrated. Finally, one of the results is discussed: a version of Little Red Riding Hood written in a participatory manner by inmates and students together.     

Two Faculty Groups’ Process in Delivering a Joint MSW Program: Evaluating the Outcome

ABSTRACT

In 1995, two state universities’ Schools of Social Work, 30 miles apart, agreed to implement a joint master's of social work program. In 2011, the Council on Social Work Education reaccredited the program. This qualitative study describes the stages of development of the group of faculty members based on Tuckman's perspective. Through surveys, interviews, and focus-group reports, a combination of convenience and purposive subsamples with a total of 22 participants provided data on the program strengths and limitations, as well as the new trends identified in the field of social work. The findings of this exploratory design study include program strengths such as availability of personal and technical resources, adequate faculty communication processes, and their willingness to change and embrace innovations. The program limitations include the diversity of faculty members and their different subcultures, the large number of students, and the recurrent disruptions of the distance-learning technology system. The inclusion of new trends in the field of social work is required to effectively educate students to meet their future clients’ expectations. Due to its qualitative methodology using nonprobability sampling strategies and a small sample size, the generalizability of this study is limited.     

Ethical Dilemmas and Areas of Social Work Intervention in Spain

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the types of ethical dilemmas that Spanish social workers face in their respective areas of intervention. The intervention areas that have been studied are health, children, immigrants, women, family, marginalized persons, ethnic minorities, young people, prisoners, elderly people, refugees and asylum seekers, schools and social and employment-related integration, mental health, disability and drug addictions. A quantitative methodology was chosen using a version of the questionnaire prepared by Eileen J. Ain in a sample of 700 Spanish social workers. The statistical analysis shows the correlation between the different areas of intervention in Social Work and the most significant ethical dilemmas that such professionals have to solve. The most pertinent ethical dilemmas are found in the healthcare sector (confidentiality, disclosure of personal information and patient autonomy). The article is an important contribution for Social Work at the national level that emphasizes the importance of the ethics of Social Work in social interventions. It is proposed to deepen the investigation of each of the areas of intervention for future research, as well as to carry out comparative studies between different countries.