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Theory and Practice
Abstract
Social work has evolved over the years taking on the challenges of the times. The profession now espouses a breadth of theoretical approaches and treatment modalities. We have developed a model to help graduate social work students master the skill of integrating theory and social work practice. The Integrative Model has five components: (l) The practice class as laboratory; (2) the integrative journal; (3) clinical supervision; (4) the clinical agenda, and (5) faculty field advisement. In this paper, each component of the integrative model is discussed and illustrated with a case example from a students' work. A discussion on implementation and evaluation of the model is also included.
Although social work education standards call for graduates to be able to practice in a global environment, it is unknown how schools are working to accomplish that as well as what supports they have and what the aims of this education are. A survey of all U.S. BSW and MSW program directors found they have multiple goals for introducing international perspectives in social work education and are using a number of methods in the implicit and explicit curriculum, including speakers, study abroad, international internships, and infusion of material in courses and stand-alone courses. Respondents indicated more supports are available at the institutional level than in their program alone. These results have a variety of implications for social work education including how to further integrate this material into courses and increase the number of students who learn this critical material.
Evolving developments in psychodynamic theory have strengthened it as an evidence-based approach and have made it concordant with social work’s strengths-based, multicultural perspective. An elective focused on teaching fundamental concepts of psychodynamic psychotherapy was developed for graduate social work students based on Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, applied to Summers and Barber’s pragmatic model of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Data were collected based on students’ experienced self-efficacy with specific competencies in psychodynamic psychotherapy in the first, sixth, and last class. Outcomes were positive, and the data were used to make specific suggestions to strengthen course outcomes.
It is important to develop commitment to community practice among social work students to encourage their engagement in this field as professionals later in life. This research examines factors that affect commitment to community practice among social work students. A structured questionnaire was administered to 277 social work students in one university and one college in Israel. The findings indicate three main factors that explain variance in commitment to community practice: specific self-efficacy for this field, positive experience in a community project during training, and experience with politics. Surprisingly, theoretical studies and support for community work during supervision did not significantly contribute to explanation of commitment to community work. The findings are discussed.
Social work educators have been grappling for years with the continually challenging notion of the “integration of theory and practice” and the converse concept, the “gap between theory and practice.” This article posits the utility of a theory-mindedness approach to learning and practice as an alternative conceptualization that attenuates the need to focus resources on the “gap” and how to close or narrow it. An innovative classroom-based approach designed to facilitate the development of theory-mindedness among three cohorts of undergraduate social work majors poised to begin their senior field practicum year is described. The impetus for and background of the project are discussed, along with a description of the model for facilitating the development of theory-mindedness. Preliminary data designed to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the approach are provided.
This article explores the use of experiential teaching methods in social work education. The literature demonstrates that relying on experiential teaching methods in the classroom can have overwhelmingly positive learning outcomes; however, not much is known about the possible effect of these classroom methods on practice. On the basis of reflections from 3 courses, the author focuses on the potential effect of in-class methods on practice. The author argues that there are at least 3 ways in which these methods can affect practice: by extending learning beyond the confines of the course, by modeling skills and attitudes useful in practice, and by allowing students to experience events that might later be confronted in practice.
Current field instructors seem pulled by the centrifugal forces of theoretical pluralism. In this study of one social work department, we surveyed BASW- and MSW-level field instructors to develop profiles of preferred theories, preferred theorists, stances toward theoretical pluralism, appraisal of the value of theoretical knowledge, and attitudes toward teaching theory. Field instructors didn't consider information about theory or theory articles very useful. Results indicated ambivalence about the role of multi-theory teacher. The use of multiple theories was endorsed, however. Respondents identified more than 19 behavior theories, 24 practice theories, 17 behavior theorists, and 20 practice theorists as influential.
The social work profession suffers from a dearth of empirically based studies of practice outcomes. One reason for this is the message conveyed in research texts, doctoral program standards, and disciplinary guidelines that research should build and test theory, rather than solve applied problems. Since many legitimate forms of empirical, scientific research do not involve theory testing, social work should consider itself less an academic discipline that advances social and behavioral science knowledge and more an applied profession that finds solutions to psychosocial problems. Research inquiries along these lines may or may not involve direct theory testing or development.
This article is the last of four in a debate between a critical rationalist (falsificationist) and a positivist (justificationist) about the value and utility of theory in social work. The critical rationalist position and its criticism of the positivist approach to theory and the pursuit of science in social work are reviewed and explained in seven theses and a little commentary. Some criticisms about how critical rationalists choose among theories and interventions are answered. Finally, the use and misuse of quasi-experimental research in social work are addressed briefly.
Empirical clinical social work practice (one of the current scientific paradigms of the profession) has too narrow an understanding of how science is done. That perspective maintains that science is an inductive, positivist, often atheoretical process, which can lead to credible, justified knowledge. By reviewing Bruce Thyer's article, "The Role of Theory in Research on Social Work Practice," through a Popperian falsificationist lens the difficulties of that approach are highlighted. An alternate approach, "Critical Rationalism," a fallibilistic noninductive trial-and-error testing of conjectured theories and methods, is described. It is contentded that this approach better advances professional knowledge and resolves the problems unresolved by the current methodology.
Though seemingly old-fashioned compared to modern methods of discerning professional development, process recordings offer many benefits for social work faculty, field instructors, and students alike. In this article, the authors enumerate these benefits, review the literature on this subject, address two perceived problems with process recordings, and make suggestions for their use in the classroom or field setting. The authors conclude with a discussion of how process recordings foster development of one's "conscious use of self."
Process recording has been used in social work field education for many years. The traditional format for a process recording is a written verbatim report of the transaction between worker and client. This article argues that it maybe useful to reconceptualize process recording as a continuum of techniques. The proposed continuum is outlined, strengths and weaknesses of the various methods are described, suggestions are made for incorporating a range of techniques into an enhanced learning experience for social work students, a model for training field instructors in these methods is described, and the article concludes with a recommendation for ongoing renewal of teaching methodologies.
Effects of supervisor and supervisee theoretical orientation on supervisees' perceptions of supervisors' models, roles, and foci were studied, as were variables influencing quality of supervision and supervisee autonomy. 84 interns from 32 nationwide training sites were surveyed. Cognitive-behavioral supervisors were perceived to be in a consultant role and to focus on skills and strategies more than were humanistic, psychodynamic, and existential supervisors, who were perceived more as using the relationship model, playing the therapist role, and focusing on conceptualization. Supervisors were not perceived to differ in their use of growth and skill development models, teacher role, and focus on the supervisee. Women were perceived as more effective supervisors than were men. Perceived effectiveness was predicted by theoretical match and similarity. Supervisee autonomy was predicted by theoretical similarity, low supervisor adherence to theory, and unmatched gender. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
What activities are associated with MSW students' performance in the field, perceptions of the quality of field instruction, and satisfaction with the field? Sixty-four MSW students reported on observational-participatory and conceptual linkage learning activities used in their first- and second-year placements. Greater use of some activities was associated with satisfaction and perception of quality but not with field instructors' ratings of student performance. This study highlights the importance to students of both doing and understanding, and suggests the need to distinguish student perceptions from performance.
The field work component of social work education plays an important role in fusing the knowledge, skills, and values of the profession. Moreover, field instructors must be competent to ensure the success of the educational process. Thus, the training of new field instructors is critical to this success. This article reports the findings of a study evaluating the impact of a training seminar for new field instructors on student perceptions of the field experience. A 10-session seminar in field instruction was offered to new direct practice field instructors as a requirement for continued supervision of students. Students' responses to a questionnaire about their field instruction indicated that seminar attendance was related to the degree of emphasis on teaching students from process recordings and also on discussion of student learning needs. Students with trained field instructors were more satisfied with the faculty field liaison. Overall, trained instructors demonstrated expected supervisory behavior more ofen than untrained instructors for 75 of the 83 supervisory activities studied, although only a limited number of comparisons reached statistical significance.