The Faculty Field Liaison: An Essential Role for Advancing Graduate and Undergraduate Group Work Education

The faculty field liaison is responsible for representing a school’s social work program in monitoring agency internship sites and agency field instructors for an assigned cohort of the program’s BSW or MSW internship students. This article focuses on the faculty field liaison’s role in effectively monitoring the internship site and field instruction to ensure the internship experience is successfully providing the group work skills and knowledge the BSW or MSW student intern needs to be an effective group work practitioner. The field instructor role has been given a lot of attention in the social work literature, but the role of the faculty field liaison has been given little to no attention. This is despite the faculty field liaison’s significant responsibility of representing the BSW and MSW program by bridging the relationships between the program, the field instructor, and the internship student. This article identifies the importance of the faculty field liaison responding to concerns in group work education in the classroom and field setting. Practice vignettes illustrating the work of the faculty field liaison in monitoring group work assignments and field instruction supervision for graduate and undergraduate social work interns are provided.     

Underexplored Aspects of Group-work Education in MSW Programs

Warnings about social group work’s diminished place within social work education date back to 1978. This article reports the findings of a national study exploring the state of group-work education in Council on Social Work Education accredited programs. Our 2014 publication compared study results with those of the 1994 Birnbaum and Auerbach publication. This article highlights additional findings regarding underexplored aspects of group-work education including concentrations/specializations in group work, social work faculty expertise and involvement in group-work associations, efforts to link students with professional group-work associations, continuing education opportunities in group work for field supervisors, online/hybrid group-work course offerings, links between institutional characteristics and group-work offerings, and faculty members’ perceptions of the state of group-work education.     

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.     

Promoting Individual and Social Changes: A Hybrid Model of Social Work with Groups

Taking as a starting point two influential, yet different approaches in group work, that is, the self-directed group work and mutual aid models, this article examines a possible alternative for conducting social work with groups. Drawing from structuration theory, which makes a strong dialectical relation between agency and structure possible, this article highlights how our alternative model could lead to a greater integration of the micro- and macrodimensions in group-work practice. The Discussion section proposes three key principles for group work, namely, a belief in people’s strengths and capacities, a focus on critical thinking, and a concern for the development of a democratic culture in groups. These principles are conveyed through the group worker’s roles as consciousness raiser and process facilitator and provide a flexible and participatory process that can be used with a broad range of service-user groups. The article concludes with a discussion on the strengths and limitations of the model.     

Mutual Aid: A Contribution to Best-Practice Social Work

This keynote speech, delivered in French and translated to English with minor adjustments for publication, presents some of the author's ideas about mutual-aid practice as best-practice social work. The author discusses the etiology and centrality of mutual aid in social work with groups, presents five characteristics of mutual-aid practice that reflect best-practice social work and identifies four key characteristics—joy in sharing, faith, courage, and curiosity—of mutual-aid practitioners. Similarities between mutual-aid practice and evidence-based group work, practice evaluation and participatory-action research are discussed as well. The author presents group work as inherently evidence based and challenges the idea that subjective measures alone may not be valid in reaching this determination.     

The Political and Economic Impact on the Development of Social Group Work in Taiwan

This article uses a political-economic lens to clarify the development of social group work in Taiwan. During the past 50 years, Taiwan has experienced a great economic and political transition. This article focuses on three different periods of time. Under the political repression of the 1950s and 1960s group activities were a means of social control. In the 1970s economic development evoked social changes that led to relaxed controls over civil organizations and political freedom. Community development and “Americanized” social work education marked the first step for social work with groups. During that period group work in Taiwan placed more emphasis on individual problems. In the 1980s political change brought the expansion of group work in Taiwan. An open political scene and flourishing social movements gave impetus to extension of various forms of group work in all kinds of situations. In particular social action and self-help groups played a critical role in the growth of the interests of people.     

A Model for Implementing an Evidence-Based Practice in Student Fieldwork Placements: Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of “SBIRT”

ABSTRACT

This article reports on focus group data analysis that was used to understand initial, largely positive outcomes from a university-based initiative to disseminate and implement an evidence-based practice (EBP)—Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Substance Use (SBIRT)—into student fieldwork placements, which are usual care social work settings. Focus groups were conducted with three groups of stakeholders involved in the ongoing project: social work department faculty (n = 10), bachelor- and master-level social work students (n = 8), and social work fieldwork instructors (n = 6). Dimensional analysis of the focus group data yielded results indicating that dissemination and implementation of SBIRT was influenced by agency- and school-level factors and perceived fit between the EBP and individual professional identity, intrapersonal characteristics, and timing. The resulting model, developed through the focus group analysis, is offered and shows how these factors interacted and affected training, supervision, and use of the EBP. The model provides social work educational programs and agencies a working tool for diagnosing and proactively addressing barriers and breakdowns in the EBP implementation process. Future research that tests the model as a diagnostic tool and generates knowledge about its influence in developing competent evidence-based practitioners is indicated. Future focus groups in relation to this initiative are needed to better understand these barriers and facilitators in the EBP implementation process and their critical roles in the process of translating SBIRT into standard social work practice.     

Socratic Dialogue and Self-Directed Group Work: Strengthening Ethical Practice in Social Work

Socratic dialogue is a practical method of philosophical inquiry used to develop ethical and critical thinking among participants. On the other hand, self-directed group work is a practical intervention model based on social justice principles aimed at empowering service users and clients in social work and community work contexts. This conceptual article aims to reflect on a combination of the two models, arguing that group work interventions inspired by Socratic dialogue and self-directed group work may represent a way for social workers to develop a better ethical stance in their practice.     

Breaking Silence,Building Solutions: The Role of Social Justice Group Work in the Retention of Faculty of Color

In spite of their many diversity initiatives, predominantly White colleges and universities have a poor track record in the recruitment and retention of faculty of color. This article unpacks the White privilege inherent in barriers to retention by focusing on three standards commonly used to make promotion and tenure decisions: teaching, service, and scholarship. A story of two Native American women faculty members denied academic advancement at a predominantly White university 30 years apart illustrates the White racism that underscored these decisions. Approaches to social justice group work are suggested for addressing the retention of faculty of color in the future.     

Instilling the Soul of Group Work in Social Work Education

This article addresses the process of developing an educational model for teaching social work with groups in an undergraduate social work degree program in Israel. The model was developed against a backdrop of decreasing status of social group work within the profession and the consequent loss of its unique identity and power in the social work field. The model's aims are to provide the students with the basic principles of social group work, to ensure its place in their professional identity, and to awaken curiosity regarding its use in their future practice as social workers.     

Research newsnotes

The authors describe the curricular changes made as part of a 20-year commitment by Smith College School for Social Work (SCSSW), a graduate school with a clinical social work specialization, to become an antiracism institution. Unaware of precedents, faculty, administration, and students needed to develop structures and processes to confront inherent institutional racism at the SCSSW. In addition to multiple administrative actions, every aspect of the curriculum was reevaluated, leading to changes in courses offered and everything about them, from syllabi to pedagogy, as well as how faculty are trained and supported. The authors found that explicit and implicit curriculum must work together in intentional and synchronous ways. Critical intention across design, implementation, evaluation, accountability, and openness to process is emphasized here. They conclude that an antiracism commitment requires continuous engagement, connection, challenge, learning, and teaching and a curriculum that is fluid, flexible, proactive, and responsive.     

Transforming Social Group Work Learning into Competencies for Interprofessional Teams

This article describes how social work and social group work strategies are used to enhance social work student participation in an interprofessional education program (IPE) that includes social work and five health care disciplines. Concurrently, social work students take part in a small group to assist them in the application of their social group knowledge to their IPE experience. Interprofessional collaborations between social work and health care can work toward alleviating health inequalities and poor access to health services. Social work has a crucial and significant role within these teams because of the profession’s focus on individual well-being, within the context of their social environment and support systems.     

Action and Reflection in Work with a Group of Homeless People

The paper reviews work with a group of homeless men and women and explores contradictions which became manifest for the worker as he engaged clients who are economically and therefore socially and politically a part of an oppressed class. The work of Paulo Freire informs the discussion and illuminates practice principles toward a more radical approach to group work with poor, institutionally oppressed people. The paper also addresses clinical aspects of the group. Thc contention is that the historical split between social action and clinical work can be healed when work is focused at the psychosocial interface.     

Public perceptions of social workers and social work in the Republic of Croatia

Throughout the war and the post-war period, the field of social work in Croatia has developed at an accelerated rate. The involvement and assistance from international agencies and individuals created numerous fora for exchange, collaboration and mutual learning among all the helping professions. The research process represented a collaborative effort of faculty, lecturers and students in the Study Center for Social Work in the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law. The sample was convenient, composed mainly of the urban population of Croatia. The instrument consists of two main parts, one regarding the content of a social worker's work, and the other regarding the attitudes toward that profession. We believe that the results of our study demonstrate that social work, as a profession, is relatively well known among the citizens of Croatia. Those markers pertaining to the attitude towards social work profession, which are negative in nature, are ranked by our participants as lowest in importance on the scale.     

Use of Groups in School Social Work: Group Work and Group Processes

ABSTRACT

A survey of 54 school social workers indicated that they use group work extensively in their practice to address a number of student issues. Cognitive-behavioral theories were most commonly used to guide these groups. Workers rarely identified the use of small group theory as a conceptual framework. Groups were less frequent at the secondary level, and sessions were longer. Family change groups were more common at the elementary level. The method of funding the social work position had no effect on kinds or numbers of groups school social workers facilitated. Respondents did not identify use of small group theory as a conceptual framework, but they addressed group dynamics and group developmental stages. They used activities extensively and adapted published curriculum to meet member needs.     

The Essential Power of Group Work

SUMMARY

For almost two decades, leaders in the field of social group work have been warning that the foundational principles and practice of group work as a modality are in danger of being absorbed into generalist social work practice. This paper expands upon the appeal of leaders in the social group work field to generate an environment in which group work is recognized as an integral method in social work practice and education. This paper examines group work as a powerful methodology in social work practice with a specific theoretical framework and skill base that is fundamental to the social work profession. The characteristics of group work's strengths are explored with a comprehensive overview that inspires renewed commitment to preserving, practicing and promoting social group work as a viable and integral part of social work practice.