Social workers can help advance public health through increased acceptability of harm reduction principles and practices. This study evaluated Master of Social Work students' attitudes towards harm reduction before and after a substance use and social work practice course and assessed differences in students' attitude outcomes across multiple…

This qualitative study aims to examine foundation year Master of Social Work (MSW) students' experiences with the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using a holistic framework. Study participants included 64 MSW students who completed a 15-minute virtual OSCE with standardized patients and expert observers followed by a five minute…

This study examines individual factors that influence activity in antiracism advocacy and political-social advocacy among MSW students. The research team sent an online survey link to the current MSW students and recent graduates of five schools in the United States. The results indicate that people who identify as bisexual and queer, study a…

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted social work students accustomed to in-person learning, forcing a shift to remote education. During fall 2021 and spring 2022, they faced a return to physical classrooms. Few studies have explored the effects of reverting to in-person classes amidst the pandemic. This exploratory study surveyed 135 Master of Social…

Debates over the nature of social work education are not new. What is new, however, comes from the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) injection of critical pedagogy into social work education through "anti-racist" and "anti-oppressive" competencies laid out in the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards…

This research examines professional values and individuals' decisions to pursue social work education, with gatekeeping as a mediator of this relationship. Motivations are derived from Community of Practice theory: community, domain, practice, and skills. MSW students (N=528) were recruited across the U.S. Structural equation modeling was used to…

This article reports the use of online live-streamed simulations (online LSS), implemented on Zoom with Master of Social Work students. A thematic analysis was conducted from an online survey (n = 26 responses) to explore, 1) if online LSS can offer the same potential to develop holistic competence as in-class simulations, and 2) how students…

This article explores the development and implementation of the master's program "Postwar social-psychological rehabilitation" as an innovative approach to preparing social workers for post-conflict recovery. The war in Ukraine has created unprecedented challenges for the social system, particularly the need for specialists capable of…

This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the…

Many students report increasing test anxiety in the months before taking the national social work licensure exam. We evaluate whether adding a test-anxiety-reduction module to an online exam preparation course reduces MSW students' test anxiety. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest control-group design was used to compare 42 students who did not…

Contract grading provides graduate-level students with greater control and autonomy within the learning process. The contract grading approach requires students to take greater responsibility for achieving course learning outcomes as well as allowing learners to adjust the style and focus of assignments to meet their own unique needs and desires.…

Those in the field of social work education are continuously looking for methods to enhance the production of competent, effective MSWs. One approach is to provide enhanced training programs to select groups of students. Historically, research on these programs has been limited other than for Title IV-E programs. The current study assesses a…

Problem Statement: As social work education programs have expanded, there is a desire to understand how cloud-based technology can better support field education administrators with the student placement process and potentially reduce workload. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence the frequency of technology…

Few studies examine the use of live actors in simulated training for social work students. This paper offers a programmatic exemplar on the implementation of simulation training in ethical decision-making using professional live actors. It offers original findings on the experiences of Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work students (n…

To contribute to best practices in educating social work students on environmental justice, we report the results of a study evaluating a module that was incorporated into the course Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE). A mixed-methods design was used to examine student attitudes toward environmental justice. Participants were 61…