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…

In this qualitative study, we consider student experiences with and perceptions of teaching methods that are clinical skill-based (e.g., simulation role plays). Focus groups included Master of Social Work students (N = 40) from six universities in the United States. A framework-guided content analysis was used and revealed four discussion areas:…

Using data from a large full-time social work program, we examine variation within and across three measures of MSW student competency: field instructor ratings, classroom instructor ratings, and student self-assessments through foundation and advanced years. The use of multiple student-level measures with identical wording and parallel response…

Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement (RCQI) is often required for behavioral health work force training and evaluation projects supported by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The RCQI process is well established within healthcare but under-utilized in academia to improve teaching and learning. We created and piloted the…

Social work education is an academic discipline that prepares students to support individual, family, and community wellbeing, and to advance policies for social equity. Despite the increasing use of online education for social work, many social work faculty believe that online Master of Social Work (MSW) programs do not adequately prepare…

Increasing demand for social work placements in a climate of decreasing availability has intensified the search for capacity-building models of field education. Rotation placements may be part of the solution, yet little is currently known about how rotations affect the experience of field education in the context of block placements. A study of…

MSW students (n = 202) from four U.S. universities participated in a Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program focused on integrated care with children and youth. Data were aggregated across programs to assess for improved scores on the Attitudes Towards Healthcare Teams Scale (ATHCTS). Students who identified as White reported…

While the collaborative trend among professional social workers and librarians gains traction and attention, literature about the utilization of student social workers partnering with libraries is non-existent. Over 64,000 students are currently enrolled in master-level social work (MSW) programs throughout the United States and nearly all are…

Job crafting makes people's work rewarding through meaning making. This article discusses the ways in which a field director may use job crafting to address a common challenge in field education. Field placements are based on various institutional expectations; however, many students have preconceived notions of what social work and social work…

As homelessness continues to pose a significant social problem in many urban areas, service agencies rely on social workers to fulfill a critical role. However, recruitment and retention of social workers for high-demand fields, such as homeless services, is challenging. This study offers a formative analysis of a master's of social work field…

There are a small number of MSW and BSW programs in the U.S. that have specialized tracks to train social workers to work with Spanish-speaking clients. This qualitative focus group study reports on the experiences of 25 students who participated in a new English-Spanish dual-language component in the final year of an MSW program in a Northeastern…

Equitable opportunities for performance measurement learning among social work graduate students can create a diverse professional pipeline toward higher performing organizations. A Foundation-University partnership was developed to "expand the bench" of students, primarily of color, trained in performance measurement with the…

The Implicit Curriculum (IC) plays a critical role in the overall master of social work (MSW) educational experience. Graduating MSW students (N=262) from four different programs over a 2-year period completed the Implicit Curriculum Survey (ICS), which measures six domains of the IC -- field education, academics, community, diversity, advising,…

Despite the importance of field education in social work, there are situations when only a few social work educators are involved in supporting students in their field placements. At the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), for example, involvement in field education is reserved for faculty who are fluent in Arabic due to the nature of…

This article examines U.S.-based MSW programs' admissions practices and policies toward applicants with criminal convictions. Despite national attention to mass incarceration and its impact on college admissions, there is a dearth of empirical investigation in this area. Through a national survey of MSW programs' admissions personnel (n = 146),…