This article addresses the challenging task of preparing baccalaureate social work students to master proficiency as first responders in stress and trauma situations. We begin with a brief description of the context, goals, admission procedure, structure, and process of a stress and trauma studies (STS) program. We then compare the development of…

Social workers from one state chapter of the National Association of Social Workers were surveyed to assess their use of and attitudes toward the peer-reviewed literature and their engagement in evidence-based practice. Results reveal that, in general, the practitioners in this study did not read the peer-reviewed literature, particularly articles…

Social work educators have been grappling for years with the continually challenging notion of the "integration of theory and practice" and the converse concept, the "gap between theory and practice." This article posits the utility of a theory-mindedness approach to learning and practice as an alternative conceptualization…

Social work is an applied profession using a combination of theory, research, and practice to meet the needs of client populations. First-hand experiential learning is central to social work education. Just as students learn clinical skills by interacting with clients in a practice setting, students need a forum to use real data to develop their…

Most of the literature on the strengths perspective has addressed issues of practice; far less has been written about the role of the strengths perspective in social work education. Empirical studies have tended to focus on content analysis of texts and syllabi rather than data obtained directly from social work faculty. To address this gap, the…

Schools of social work have begun to explore teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) across their curriculum. Although the current literature offers ideas on how to incorporate EBP in foundation research and practice courses, the literature seems nonexistent on how to teach EBP in an advanced research sequence, which could clearly address the…

Teaching macro practice can be challenging. While students have some concepts of what macro practice entails, their knowledge may be limited and sometimes inaccurate. Moreover, students may be reluctant to engage in macro change efforts. Given the scarcity of literature regarding teaching macro practice and the growing importance of it in social…

The article describes and evaluates an innovative experiment in education and training of social workers at an academic learning center, which was established by the Hebrew University's School of Social Work and Social Welfare in a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The project focused on strengthening the link between theory, research, and practice.…

Foundation social work practice education is critical to the preparation of BSW practitioners for professional practice and the establishment of a theoretical and skill base upon which graduate students may build competencies in the advanced curriculum. Issues in the foundation practice curriculum may hinder this development. The common factors…

The organization is often the overlooked level in social work's ecological perspective. However, organizational realities exert a profound influence on human development and well-being as well as the nature and quality of social work practice. This article describes a model of teaching organization theory and practice which requires master's…

Using teaching cases in professional education programs has gained increased attention in the past several decades. While the use of teaching cases has been an important part of social work education, the majority of current casebooks focus on micro or direct practice issues and settings. Over the past forty years only four major casebooks have…

The Council on Social Work Education accreditation standards requires that the social work curricula include content on practice evaluation. To meet this requirement, many schools have a course devoted to clinical evaluation. The desired outcome of these courses is that students not only learn the content but also retain it and implement…

This paper presents a model for teaching an undergraduate social work macro practice course utilizing an experiential learning paradigm. The model provides a campus-based project with social work majors in simultaneous dual roles of students and grassroots leaders, focusing on rape and sexual assault prevention training for college students. This…

This article deals with an educational structure where students' personal narratives are used to deepen their understanding of what reactions to crises may imply. Through writing about experienced violence the students introduced into the learning environment stories that could be analyzed and serve as illustrations of ways of reacting to crises.…

One of the most problematic issues in the field of social work is the gap between practice and research. This paper describes the roles of the social work clinical practitioner and the social work researcher, and explores the role discontinuity that occurs as social work doctoral students' transition between these roles. A model illustrating the…