Purpose: The need for psychometrically sound measurement approaches to social work educational outcomes assessment is increasing. Method: The research reported here describes an original and two replication studies of a new scale (N = 550) designed to assess an individual's self-efficacy regarding social work competencies specified by the Council…

Purpose: The increasing role of systematic reviews in knowledge production demands greater rigor in the literature search process. The performance of the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database has been examined multiple times over the past three decades. The current study is a replication within this line of research. Method: Issue-level coverage…

Objective: Many professions use some form of internship in professional education. Social work has utilized field instruction throughout much of its history. Recently, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) designated field instruction as social work's signature pedagogy. A systematic review was undertaken to examine evidence related to this…

Objective: This article describes a bibliometric analysis of articles appearing in the journal "Research on Social Work Practice" (RSWP). Method: Descriptive and predictive analyses for the sample of 322 articles are presented. Results: The typical RSWP article was 15 pages long, had two authors and 28 references, and was cited for the first time…

Objective: According to a prior study, there are substantial lapses in journal coverage in the "Social Work Abstracts" (SWA) database. The current study provides a replication and extension. Method: The longitudinal pattern of coverage of thirty-three journals categorized in SWA as core journals (published in the 1989-1996 period) is examined.…

Objective: The current study seeks to provide estimates of the adequacy of journal coverage in the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database. Method: A total of 23 journals listed in the Journal Citation Reports social work category during the 1997 to 2005 period were selected for study. Issue-level coverage estimates were obtained for SWA and…

Objective: The Evaluation Self-Efficacy Scale (ESE) is being developed as an outcomes assessment instrument for social work courses focusing on evaluation. Method: This scale, based on social cognitive theory, was pretested, revised, and then used with a final sample of 85 master's-level students in the original study. Using a single-group,…

Objective: Assessing the achievement of social work educational outcomes is a requirement of the Council on Social Work Education's Educational Policy and Standards (EPAS). The Evaluation Self-Efficacy Scale (ESE) was created to assess student progress in advanced concentration courses focused on evaluation and thereby provide data regarding…

Objective: Bibliometrics is a method of examining scholarly communications. Concerns regarding the use of bibliometrics in general, and the impact factor score (IFS) in particular, have been discussed across disciplines including social work. Although there are frequent mentions in the literature of the IFS as an indicator of the impact or quality…