This article presents a conceptual model of the field director's role outside of field education, specifically in the following 3 areas of leadership: (1) curricular, (2) programmatic, and (3) institutional. A survey was conducted to explore the field director's input targeted in these areas beyond prescribed field education tasks. The…

In social work field education, mentoring is underused and lacks research data. There is a paucity of research that examines the effect mentoring has on social work field directors who administer field programs at the undergraduate and/or graduate level. This exploratory study fills this void by examining the mentoring opportunities and…

Social work field instructors are responsible for the gatekeeping function of evaluating student performance and determining practice readiness. Yet little empirical literature elucidates how field instructors of graduating BSW students judge competence, suitability, or readiness for practice. This qualitative study reports findings from 6 focus…

An anonymous Web-based survey was used to gather the perceptions and experiences from 114 faculty members teaching in 16 social work programs in the California State University system about the effect of severe budget cuts on their educational activities. Most respondents reported they worked on their furlough days and maintained the same or…

Every week there is a national news story involving a collegiate student-athlete, and oftentimes the tale relates to a social work education issue. There are 731 social work programs, yet none offers coursework in student-athlete behavior and their environment. Student-athletes experience the same developmental challenges as nonathletes, and…

Although foundational practice classes play a key role in helping prepracticum students develop counseling skills, we know little about the effectiveness of this form of helping skills training. This study assessed the effect of helping skills training delivered in foundational practice classes on proximal indicators of counseling skills…

Urban legends circulate throughout society, including higher education and social work education. Some academic mythologies take on the status of a tradition--no matter the evidence or lack thereof--and continue to thrive, to influence thinking, and to shape norms, which, in turn, direct behaviors. As with urban legends, academic myths are able to…

This article examines an ongoing university-community relationship that fuses innovative technology delivery, university-outreach research, and social work practice/research education into a unique, collaborative intervention to reduce homelessness. In doing so, we apply a social justice framework to homelessness, arguing that housing is a right…

This article examines whether authorship credits on publications in 8 peer-reviewed social work journals changed significantly from 2001 to 2011 by analyzing the mean number of authors. Results indicate statistically significant increases in 5 of the 8 journals and in the mean number of authors across the 8 journals when combined. Although sole…

Strengths-based practice (SBP) is one of the primary modalities of social work practice. The literature on SBP does not address a standardized tool for measuring SBP or whether receipt of a social work degree is related to practice orientation. We measure SBP with a provider-based Strengths-Based Practices Inventory (SBPI-P) and examine whether a…

Measured by the prevalence of journal article contributions, geographic coverage, and international collaboration, this literature review found an increasing level of globalization with respect to American social work research and contribution to the social work profession from 2000-2009. Findings suggest changes are needed in global awareness and…

Interdisciplinary programs in schools of social work are growing in scope and number. This article reports on collaboration between a school of social work and a school of engineering, which is forging a new area of interdisciplinary education. The program engages social work students working alongside engineering students in a team approach to…

Since the mid-20th century, instructional technologies and educational media in social work education have undergone significant development with the goals of improving learning and performance and enhancing access. This growth has been marked by technical advances in hardware and by innovations in media, or so-called soft formats. Current…

The prevalence of suicide suggests social workers will encounter clients at risk for suicide, but research shows social workers receive little to no training on suicide and suicide prevention and feel unprepared to work effectively with clients at risk. Baseline results from a randomized intervention study of the Question, Persuade, and Refer…

An increase in Latinos in the social work academy is critical due to current underrepresentation in social work education programs and rapid Latino population growth in the United States. In this qualitative study, perceptions of Mexican American master's of social work-level practitioners regarding social work doctoral education and academia…