Autonomy and Visibility in Undergraduate Social Work Education

Autonomy and visibility are important issues for social work education. Although a specific accreditation standard on autonomy exists, research reveals limitations in autonomy can result in difficulty attaining or maintaining accreditation. In 1980, accredited undergraduate units identified themselves using more than 50 different titles. By 1990, this diversity had been reduced, and the more common title “Social Work Program” was used by more than one third of all units. What is unknown is whether these changes resulted in more freestanding programs or more programs within a host department and greater or less visibility and autonomy. To explore these issues, questionnaires were sent to all U.S. accredited baccalaureate social work programs. Results indicated that the majority of respondents perceived the established governance and administrative structures of their programs as either adequate or very adequate. However, nearly 25% of the respondents found the support staff arrangement unsatisfactory. Moreover, more than one third of respondents indicated a desire for greater autonomy and more than two thirds desired more visibility of their programs.     

Educational Linkages between Undergraduate Education in Social Welfare and Professional Social Work Education

Schools of social work in the United States and in Canada have for many years, supported and encouraged their faculty to accept visiting professorships or research appointments in foreign schools of social work. This program has benefited both faculty and students through enriched course content. However, only in recent years have more than a few faculty from foreign schools of social work joined the faculties of schools of social work in the United States and Canada as visiting professors. There is no question that these faculty members have made a contribution to social work education in the schools where they were resident. This author provides insights on how visiting professors might affectively contribute as members of faculty and questions the emphasis we are presently giving to methodology at the expense of our commitment to the ideological and moral base of social work.     

Undergraduate Social Work Manpower and Job Opportunities: A Regional Study

This study deals with the deployment, utilization, and potential future employment opportunities for bachelor's-level social workers based on a survey of social service agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Denton, Texas metropolitan area. Findings are presented in relation to social service agency reports concerning budgeted and vacant positions for different types of social service personnel, degree and academic fields specified for the positions, estimates concerning future social service personnel positions, preferences in hiring between undifferentiated bachelor's-level personnel and BSWs, and preferences in hiring between BSW and MSW personnel.     

Resilience in Undergraduate Social Work Students: Social Support and Adjustment to Academic Stress1

The purpose of this exploratory study was to analyze the relationship between academic stress and resilience in American, undergraduate social work students (N = 145), and to identify whether social support functioned as a protective factor amid this relationship. Testing social support within models of mediation and moderation served this purpose. Surveys were submitted to three social work programs and solicited empirical data on academic stress; social support and two subsystems, family and friend support; and perceived resilience. The sample reported moderate levels of academic stress, social support, and resilience. Academic stress significantly (p < 0.05), negatively influenced social support and resilience. Social support systems exerted significant, positive influence with each other and with resilience. No social supports mediated the negative stress effect on resilience. Friend support moderated the academic stress–resilience relationship. Implications for social work educators and field agency practitioners regarding enhancement of supportive peer relationships among undergraduate students are discussed.     

Contemporary Social Problems in Japan: A Study of the Suicide and Depopulation Problems

Abstract  Two complementary investigations were undertaken:
1. Research into the relationship between suicide and depopulation in Shimane Prefecture.
2. Research into the relationship between the perception of social problems and unwanted objective conditions, employing suicide as the example of unwanted conditions.
To summarize the most important findings:
1. The suicide rates have been notably higher in depopulated areas.
2. The partial correlation of suicide to depopulation was high, when the effect of aging of population was removed.
3. This partial correlation has increased since 1975. There has been an aggravation of the problem of suicide as a depopulation problem.
4. The correlation of suicide to aging of the population vanished, when the effect of depopulation was removed.
5. At 70 and over, the suicide rates have been notably higher in depopulated areas.
6. The correlation of the age-specific suicide rate with the depopulation rate, increases with age and the correlation of the suicide rate among old people to the depopulation rate, was notably higher.
7. These suicidal tendencies express the mores of society. Morality underlies the perception of social problems, while morality could not exist without generating suicide at a certain point. Both suicide and the perception of suicide as social problems are largely determined by morality. This is our paradoxical hypothesis.
8. Lastly, we emphasize that there are serious depopulation problems in Japan. This is particularly obvious, if suicide is employed as the indicator of depopulation severity.     

Attitudes and Opinions Regarding the Use of the Internet for Continuing Education Among Social Workers

SUMMARY

Development of continuing education opportunities for social work license renewal requires participant access to the Internet, knowledge of the Internet's use and willingness to enroll in such programs. A survey of a random sample of licensed social workers in New Mexico revealed that 71% of participants (N = 403) have used the Internet while 61% reported no formal training in the use of the Internet and its features. Findings are reported that reveal substantial interest among subjects in the Internet as a medium for continuing education programs for license renewal.     

Current Realities and Future Opportunities for Social Work Education

An undergraduate social work curriculum has been enriched to include specific content for students training to work with deaf clients. The unique aspects of deafness examined in this paper include the characteristics of the deaf population, communication skills, and sensitivity to the minority status of deaf people. Content in each of these areas is reviewed as an illustration of specialty material in a generalist curriculum and as a plea for social work education to become more responsive to the special service needs of the deaf.     

Perceptions of Self-Care Among MSW Students: Implications for Social Work Education

ABSTRACT

For students new to social work, self-care is a strategy for addressing potentially negative impacts of the profession. Curiously, however, participation in a university’s self-care program has been chronically low. The purpose of this study is to explore social work students’ perceptions of self-care and to create a database for supporting changes in social work education. Qualitative data were collected via an online survey from MSW students. The findings revealed 5 categories for student perceptions of self-care, including health, time, activities, balance, and professionalism, and 3 categories for self-care and the social work program, including academic program experiences, resources, and modeling. Implications of the study in developing and tailoring a self-care program to students in MSW programs are discussed.     

Operationalism: A Philosophy for Social Work Education

This paper presents and utilizes an operational philosophy of social work education in an attempt to identify effective and useful educational experiences. The effects of educational philosophy on curriculum content and emphasis, selection of learning experiences, and the determination of learning outcomes is discussed. The value and utility of an explicit philosophy in educational decision making is also stressed.     

Cross-Currents in Practice,Undergraduate, and Graduate Education in Social Work

Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale was administered to master's level social work students at the beginning, midpoint, and end of their two-year educational program to determine the impact of social work education on the vital personality ingredient, open-mindedness. Scores were also used to compare levels of performance in the practicum at the conclusion of training. Students were found to be significantly more open-minded at the conclusion of training, indicating greater student permeability than indicated by previous studies. The mean performance level of open-minded students was not significantly different from that of the closed-minded group.     

Information Science in the Education of Social Work Students

Information science stands as a bridge between the practitioner facing clients in a day-to-day world and the mountain of relevant and not-so-relevant information that the social sciences have accumulated. This paper reports one school's attempts to encourage effective utilization of scientific knowledge through experimentation with (1) a computer-based retrieval system, (2) a specialized library of information tools that permits precise retrieval of current materials, and (3) an educational program that stresses the importance of having the best available knowledge as a guide to practice, and provides training in obtaining it.     

Community-Based Participatory Study Abroad: A Proposed Model for Social Work Education

Study abroad experiences offer important benefits for social work students and faculty, including global awareness, practice skill development, and enhanced multicultural competence. Short-term study abroad programs are most feasible but typically lack depth of engagement with host communities and may perpetuate existing systems of power and privilege. We propose a model of community-based participatory study abroad with 6 components: (1) shared power, (2) co-learning, (3) reciprocal benefits, (4) empowerment, (5) community-grounded processes, and (6) sustainability. This model is community-driven and social change oriented, addresses power and privilege, and emphasizes fundamental social work values. We use a study abroad course initiative in Kenya to illustrate each principle, and we conclude with a discussion of implications for teaching and student learning.     

Learning Global Social Conditions: A Broader View for Social Work Students

Today, students are increasingly interested in global issues. To meet this need, social work education must find models to incorporate international content into social work curriculum. This article presents a pedagogical experience to familiarize social work students with comparative social welfare from a global perspective. In a graduate seminar, students utilized data from the United Nations and the World Bank to examine social conditions in different parts of the world in order to gain a broader view of global social conditions. The result was a compilation of profiles highlighting the social conditions of developing countries across different regions of the globe. Furthermore, based on students’ feedback, the benefits of doing such comparative study and the implications for internationalizing social work curriculum are discussed.     

Curricular Blueprinting: The Relevance of American Social Work Education for International Students

This study assesses the relevance of US‐based social work curricula for international students. Both the perceived advantages and disadvantages of international educational training are considered, including the consequences of curricular adaptation. The study utilizes multiple qualitative methods including participant observation, 15 semi‐structured interviews, and text analysis. The majority of international respondents reported intending to work with poverty alleviation and social development. Respondents reported learning some inappropriate skills, intervention strategies, and policies that cannot be appropriately applied across cultures, and which are divorced from local context. Benefits of exchange include discussions of marginalized populations, enculturation into Western values and methods that may be beneficial to future job opportunities, and the enhancement of critical thinking skills to address social problems.     

Applied Learning: A Project for Graduate Social Work Students

This paper describes a pilot project to develop an effective applied learning experience for graduate social work students. An asset-based social justice model was used as a guide in the development of the project. Importance was placed on the host community determining its own needs and the contributions the students would provide. A partnership with community stakeholders was developed. The stakeholders decided the needs to be addressed and the faculty prepared the students to meet those needs. Successes and limitations of the pilot project are reviewed.     

Gender-Sensitive Social Work Practice: A Model for Education

Many social work educators are in search of ways to integrate course content on women while preserving time-tested models of assessment and intervention. Although women comprise the majority of social work clients, most psychological models of assessment and intervention are based on male psychological development. In contrast, feminist theories and therapies have turned attention to female psychological development and how this differs from male progression. This article describes and discusses a psychotherapeutic model for practice and education that allows for balanced gender sensitivity and that can be readily superimposed on existing models for more effective assessment and intervention.     

A Study of Cognitive Complexity in the Education for Social Work Practice

This study investigates cognitive complexity in interpersonal discriminations as it relates to selected aspects of the decision-making process in social work practice. Differences in data transmission and selection of interventive activities between graduate social work students who scored high on Carr's Interpersonal Discrimination Test were compared with those who scored low. As predicted, subjects who scored high on interpersonal discrimination transmitted more information about clients dissimilar to themselves and specified a greater number of interventive alternatives than did those who scored low. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of selection for the profession and in the identification and ordering of learning experiences in the curriculum     

Goals for Undergraduate Social Work Research: A Survey of BSW Program Directors

Abstract

This study examines research curricular goals for undergraduate social work education. Two hundred fifty-six BSW program directors were surveyed about the appropriateness of eight research goals derived from CSWE's Curriculum Policy Statement (CPS). The findings indicate a very high level of support for seven of the eight goals. The goal to prepare students to contribute to the generation of knowledge for practice received the least amount of support. Implications of the findings for possible revisions of the CPS and for undergraduate social work education are discussed.     

A Snapshot of the Current Status of Social Work Education in Mainland China

This article compares 49 colleges and universities in mainland China on the level of social work education, department and school affiliation, and duration of the program. Findings indicate great diversity in all 3 categories. Bachelor’s degrees of social work are offered in 83.3% of the programs, and 38.8% of the programs offer master’s degrees. Department affiliation varies, with only 42.7% having an independent department or school of social work. Most social work programs were started after 2000. This review indicates a rapid growth in social work education in mainland China. However, the lack of advanced degrees and standardized affiliations may hide the effect and the image of the programs.     

Social Work Values in Human Services Administration: Implications for Social Work Education

The perceived wisdom in the social work education community, based on empirical research from the 1990s and the early part of this century, says that the master of social work (MSW) degree is not competitive with the master of business administration or the master of public administration to obtain top-level administration jobs in nonprofit agencies. This article reviews recent information on hiring preferences of board chairs that provides new hope that the MSW degree with a concentration in management or administration is perceived as a viable and useful degree for top-level positions in human services agencies. Thus, current board chairs are more inclined to value the MSW than administrators and academics from years past. The reason is that the values of social workers are seen as quite valuable in the current environment.