Spring 2010, Volume 46, No. 2
The most recently published issue of the Journal of Social Work Education is the Spring/Summer 2010 edition (volume 46, number 2). Below are titles, authors, and abstracts from the issue. Access to JSWE articles is free for CSWE members and available for a fee for nonmembers.
Contents
Student-Directed Projects: An International Case Study for Social Work Education
Gina A. Chowa and David Ansong
Student-directed projects are becoming an increasingly common phenomenon in schools of social work across the United States. Students acquire a great learning experience from these projects, which sharpen their skills in leadership, innovation, and practice. Social work practitioners who go through such a process emerge having acquired knowledge beyond what is offered in the classroom. In this article we present a case study of five African graduate students who engaged in innovative efforts to implement a social development intervention in Uganda. The discussion includes ways to support students who embark on student-directed projects in schools of social work.
Advanced Standing and Bridge Courses: Structures and Issues
Linnea F. GlenMaye, Brien L. Bolin, and Timothy W. Lause
This study explores the issue of advanced standing in MSW programs in light of the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). Advanced standing structures of MSW programs were studied using a purposive sample consisting of 203 MSW program directors with a response rate of 28% (N=58). The results indicate that slightly more than 15% of programs do not provide advanced standing to incoming students, that slightly more than 63% require a “bridge” course, and that bridge courses are most often used to increase the academic readiness of students. The study’s findings are used to frame discussion of the significant issues raised by the introduction of a common set of competencies for BSW and MSW students in the new EPAS.
Gender and Intimate Partner Violence: Evaluating the Evidence
Mary E. Gilfus, Nicole Trabold, Patricia O’Brien, and Ann Fleck-Henderson
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a complex social problem that social workers must be trained to address, using the best available evidence. In this article we review divergent theories, research findings, and methods that underpin debates about the role of gender in IPV perpetration and victimization. We examine the literature that contextualizes IPV and identifies different types of IPV and recommend training social workers to use differential assessment tools for IPV. We conclude that gender does matter in IPV and that social work students can critically evaluate the gender debates in selecting evidence for safe and effective practice.
A Study of Holocaust Survivors: Implications for Curriculum
Roberta R. Greene
This article presents an approach to human behavior curriculum that requires students to “distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge, including research-based knowledge.” It emphasizes and allows for critical thinking about knowledge relevant to trauma, resilience, and survivorship, providing empirically based information to support risk and resilience theory in an ecological, life course perspective. Information from a study of Nazi Holocaust survivors is used to illustrate how personal development, family functioning, and community support occur under the most severe stress. Survivor quotes illuminate the life course perspective as a means of thinking about how individuals maintain competence into old age.
Conducting Spiritual Assessments With Native Americans: Enhancing Cultural Competency in Social Work Practice Courses
David R. Hodge and Gordon E. Limb
Developing competency in diversity and assessment are key educational priorities. With Native American clients a spiritual assessment is typically required because spirituality is often instrumental to health and wellness in Native cultures. In keeping with the movement toward competency-based education, this qualitative study sought to answer the question: How can future social workers conduct spiritual assessments with Native American clients in an effective, culturally competent manner? Analysis yielded a number of practice-oriented insights that can be grouped into four categories: the importance of spiritual assessment, preassessment considerations, the process of conducting the assessment, and areas of potential value conflict. The implications of the results are discussed as they intersect social work education and practice courses in particular.
Emotional Reactions of Students in Field Education: An Exploratory Study
Andrea Litvack, Marion Bogo, and Faye Mishna
An exploratory study using qualitative methodology was undertaken with recent MSW graduates (N=12) from two graduate social work programs to identify and describe the students’ emotional reactions to experiences in field education. Significant and interrelated themes emerged including the subjective and unique definitions of emotionally charged events; the considerable effect of the student–field instructor relationship and the organizational environment whereby both act as major risk and major protective factors; and participants seeking help from sources in their family and social networks and not necessarily from those in formal social work education roles. Implications for field education are provided.
Critical Race Theory: A Transformational Model for Teaching Diversity
Larry Ortiz and Jayshree Jani
Rapidly changing demographics in the United States, the 2008 Educational Policies and Standards, and recent developments in the literature that question the effectiveness of multiculturalism and cultural competence suggest social work education, research, and practice are in need of a new approach to diversity. In conceptualizing diversity, social workers need to address a broad social context that includes institutional/structural arrangements, recognizes the intersection of multiple identities, and integrates an explicit social justice orientation. This article presents Critical Race Theory as a paradigmatic framework that focuses both on institutions and the pain they create for marginalized people. Its critique is multidimensional, addressing root causes and personal distress while pursuing transformational change.
IRBs and Social Work: A Survey of Program Directors’ Knowledge and Attitudes
Stephanie Valutis and Deborah Rubin
The philosophical basis for federal human subject protection policy is congruent with the values of the social work profession. The pragmatics are more complicated. This study explored the attitudes toward, knowledge about, and practices of institutional review boards (IRBs) across colleges and universities as reported by social work program directors. Differences were found in program directors’ reports of the time required for initial review of submissions, the types of research considered "exempt" institutionally, and respondents’ knowledge of IRBs. These findings provide support for the Council on Social Work Education’s recommendation for increased involvement of social work educators in IRBs and related policy.
TEACHING NOTE—Teaching About Oppression Through Jenga: A Game-Based Learning Example for Social Work Educators
Sara Lichtenwalter and Parris Baker
Educators, both novice and experienced, are presented with a formidable constellation of obstacles when attempting to teach the concepts of institutional oppression and unearned privilege. Educators must challenge years of socialization and internalized ideologies of superiority that make hierarchies of privilege appear to be the natural order. In the interests of expanding and strengthening social work educators’ repertoire of instructional tools on the topic of institutional oppression, we review the relevant literature on institutional oppression and game-based learning and offer readers an original game-based learning exercise adapted from the popular family game Jenga as a tool for instructing on the topic of institutional oppression.