This research note explores Bachelor of Social Work students' perceptions about how well their group practice courses prepared them for group opportunities at field internships. We conducted a posttest-only design pilot study to compare field groupwork experiences of students who attended group practice courses taught with and without the…

With many social workers already using or working in sport, understanding available learning opportunities is critical to enhance competency-based practice, a cornerstone of the profession. To meet this need, this study explored learning opportunities used by social workers using or working in sport. In total, 15 social work professionals were…

Schools of social work must prepare social workers to meet the demands of the rapidly emerging field of police social work. This article reports on the experiences of a social work program's partnership with a police department. The authors identify an integrative practice model of police social work, specifying social work roles at the…

To address a gap in social work field instructor training, a unique reflective practice training series was designed and implemented with social work field instructors supervising BSW social work interns. Grounded in the connection between supervision and the development of reflective practice skills, the 6-session training series provided field…

Social workers are trained to respond to national disasters but, during the emergence of the novel Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, their traditional face-to-face methods of responding to client needs were not accessible. Field placement educators were required to find alternative means for social work students to complete internships. This…

Evidence shows that when an interprofessional (IP) approach is effectively implemented, it can counteract some of our most pressing health care problems. One such challenge is the lack of training in IP teamwork health care professionals receive during their education. Using a quasi-experimental matched comparison group design, this study assessed…

The ongoing emphasis on micro practice and declining interest in macro practice has raised concerns regarding the availability and quality of macro internships. Effective training of macro practitioners entering the field remains necessary for reasons including oversight of staff and student internships. This study examines student and faculty…

In 2015, 81% of counties in Texas were designated as full or partial Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas. To address this problem, we worked with a community-based association of mental health practitioners, using the social theory of career selection, to explore factors that influence students to join the mental health field. Our goal was…

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…

Social work programs have increased evidence-based practice (EBP)-related curricular content; yet, it is unclear whether newer practitioners are successful in incorporating it into their practice. This study examines factors that influence the use of EBP among newly graduated social workers. We developed and implemented a Web-based survey that…

The realities of contemporary social work practice often push social workers toward a deficit-focused orientation. The article begins with an overview of the major tenets of resiliency and adversarial growth theories and related research findings. We suggest that the group modality epitomizes the application of resiliency theory and adversarial…

Social work student participation in global experiences continues to increase despite limited research on the impacts of these educational experiences on knowledge and skill development. This article reports on professional identity and skill development for 25 U.S. Latinx students who completed internships or service-learning projects in Costa…

This article describes an internship program designed specifically to meet graduate students' training needs within the context of their work in a prevention program for children in foster care. An internship based on a strong model of intern recruitment and supervision, structured inclusion of interns in a supportive agency culture, a…

The federal government increasingly expects child welfare systems to be more responsive to the needs of their local populations, connect strategies to results, and use continuous quality improvement (CQI) to accomplish these goals. A method for improving decision making, CQI relies on an inflow of high-quality data, up-to-date research evidence,…

Field instructors have often not felt empowered to address their concerns about a critical skill in their students' professional development: their students' writing. In this article, we explain ways that field education departments and social work faculty can support field instructors to improve their students' writing. In addition, we provide…