Legislative advocacy is an important and long-standing skill in social work. However, this role cannot be left solely to social workers who specialize in macro and policy practice. Rather, clinical social workers who assist clients as they face "private" troubles (Mills, 1959) also need to face the structural barriers that contribute to…

This article examines perceptions of the relationship between professional education and workplace training among a select group of public child welfare employees who pursued graduate social work education during a period of major practice change at their agency. Focus groups were conducted with representative members of graduating cohorts as…

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…

Military children encounter unique stressors that can affect their social and emotional well-being. These challenges can serve as a risk to the military child's successful academic performance. This study fills a much-needed research gap by examining the training and implementation of a public school-based intervention, Families OverComing Under…

The Internet is increasingly used to disseminate health information about diseases and prevention and to help in obtaining health services. Although technology can empower African Americans to adopt healthy lifestyles, the gap in usage between African Americans and Whites undermines the potential power of health Internet technology (IT) to…

Reliable and valid methods to evaluate student competence are needed in social work education, and practice examinations with standardized clients may hold promise for social work. The authors conducted a critical appraisal of standardized client simulations used in social work education to assess their effectiveness for teaching and for…

The task of recruiting and retaining ethnically diverse, qualified, and committed social workers in child welfare is challenging. Federal funding supporting BSW and MSW education has been a catalyst for university-agency partnerships across the country. An important goal of these partnerships is to prepare social work students with the knowledge,…

This article outlines the implementation of a journal club for master's and doctoral social work students interested in mental health practice. It defines educational journal clubs and discusses the history of journal clubs in medical education and the applicability of the model to social work education. The feasibility of implementing…

In this article, we report the findings from a study exploring the effects of a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching and learning on learning outcomes for master's of social work (MSW) students. Students who participated in a PBL pilot project were compared with students who did not participate in 5 outcome areas: social work…

Learning to write a scholarly literature review is often difficult for undergraduate students. This teaching note examines a pilot study of BSW students' use of a wiki to collaboratively write a literature review in a research course (N=36). Students expressed negative responses toward the assignment and were reluctant to use the wiki. Their…

The social work retreat is defined, along with a discussion of a rationale for its use within the larger context of social work education, findings from two different retreats, specific activities that have been used, and recommendations for using the retreat in other programs. (Author/MH)

Students' perceptions of their field placements rarely are taken into account in the literature on field practicum and supervision. This survey of master's program students at a southern university examines factors associated with student satisfaction with field agency, field instructor, and field learning. (Author/MH)

The impact of social work education on the individual is reconceptualized in terms of Kelly's personal construct theory. The conceptualization formed the basis of a cross-sectional study of students at the beginning, middle, and end of social work education. (Author/MH)

As student financial aid for master's programs in social work has decreased, the necessity for paid employment-related field replacements has increased. One alternative--the field placement contracting process--is examined as an avenue for restructuring the work experience to better suit the educational needs of the student employee. (Author/MH)

A survey of 119 graduate social work students revealed higher levels of stress among part-time than full-time students. Thirty-eight variables, representing three major groupings of stressors, were examined to compare the perceived stress level of students from full- and part-time programs. (Author/MH)