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Self-efficacy regarding social work competencies
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 27(5), 2017, pp.594-606.
- Publisher:
- Sage
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 on Social Work Education as part of the accreditation of social work programmes. Results: This new measure, the Self-Efficacy Regarding Social Work Competencies Scale (SERSWCS), generally performed in line with our expectations. Discussion: The SERSWCS is a measure that is based on substantial theoretical and empirical work, has preliminary evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the data it produces, can be used with large numbers of students in an efficient manner, is neither expensive or subject to user restrictions, and provides views of outcomes that have utility for pedagogical considerations at multiple curricular levels. (Edited publisher abstract)
Information for clinical social work practice: a potential solution
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Clinical Social Work Journal, 40(2), 2012, pp.166-174.
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Place of publication:
- New York
The field of social work requires knowledgeable, skilled and self-confident professionals. The authors assume that many of these social workers will have less than optimal access to professionally relevant information, within and outside of their workplaces. It is also assumed that they, like others searching for information, will have a limited set of search skills yet will want to obtain the information for practice they need as easily as possible. Finally, the authors assume they will continue turning to the Internet to access relevant information. This paper describes Information for Practice (IP), an Internet service designed for social work practitioners based on these assumptions. Data regarding use of this service are presented. (Publisher abstract)
A few thoughts on evidence in social work
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work in Health Care, 51(6), July 2012, pp.483-505.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
There is inherent uncertainty in social work practice. This can be due to the difficulty in accessing information, or the information can be lacking because of the context of the population being served, the particular client system, the set of problems the client system is experiencing, as well as the various interventions that could be selected. The idea of evidence-based practice has been advanced for some time as an approach to support practitioners in their day-to-day work. This article has two points: first, it selectively reviews attempts to make social work practice more evidence based; and second, it describes one stage in the evolution of a Web-based service – Information for Practice (IP). IP is a long-term project with the mission of keeping practitioners informed about news and new scholarship in the field, so that they can more easily make their practice more evidenced based.
The signature pedagogy of social work? An investigation of the evidence
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 21(3), May 2011, pp.363-372.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Social work education has used field instruction throughout much of its history. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in its 2008 Educational Policies and Standards designated field instruction as social work’s ‘signature pedagogy’. The purpose of this study was to investigate the evidence relevant to CSWE’s designation. A systematic literature search was undertaken to uncover studies that: quantitatively examined the overall effect of field instruction in a U.S. setting; were reported in English prior to the end of 2009; compared field placement to a no treatment control or a previously established alternative educational intervention; and reported a statistical test of the comparison. The search included 25 primary databases, 3 grey literature sources, a research university library for monographs and collections, hand searching of 5 journals or newsletters, and a survey of the invisible colleges. No studies were identified that met the stated inclusion criteria. The article concludes that the assertion that field instruction is the ‘signature pedagogy’ of social work would be more credible if supported by stronger evidence.
Research on social work practice: a bibliometric evaluation of the first decade
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 20(1), January 2010, pp.11-20.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This article describes a bibliometric analysis (study of texts and information) of articles appearing in the journal Research on Social Work Practice (RSWP). Using a descriptive and predictive analyses on a sample of 322 articles within RSWP, this paper found the typical article was 15 pages long, and an average of two authors, presented 28 references and was cited for the first time 2 years after publication. A typical article was cited for 2 years and on average 3 times during the publication year and then for 6 subsequent years after that. The sample used received a total of 1,139 citations over a seven year period. The authors conclude that RSWP’s first decade of publication had a positive impact, and that it had achieved a level of respect comparable to that of more established journals in the field of study.
Social Work Abstracts fails again
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 19(6), November 2009, pp.715-721.
- Publisher:
- Sage
According to a previous study, there are substantial lapses in journal coverage in the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database. The current study provides a replication and extension. The longitudinal pattern of coverage of thirty-three journals categorised in SWA as core journals (published in the 1989-1996 period) is examined. The proportion of issues missing from SWA is significantly greater than 0, increases over time and is significantly biased in favour of NASW journals. The errors in SWA reported here, combined with those previously reported, will exert a long-term negative impact on scholarship unless their existence becomes known to all SWA users and they take steps to compensate for the situation.
Does social work abstracts work?
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 18(5), September 2008, pp.487-499.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The current study seeks to provide estimates of the adequacy of journal coverage in the Social Work Abstracts (SWA) database. 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 PsycINFO, the comparison database. Both databases provided less than optimal coverage of social work journals, and SWA performed significantly worse than did PsycINFO. Both databases provided better coverage of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Press journals than non-NASW Press journals. The results provide evidence of substantial deficits in SWA that merit serious concern.
The evaluation self-efficacy scale for assessing progress toward CSWE Accreditation - related objectives: a replication
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 18(1), January 2008, pp.42-46.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The Evaluation Self-Efficacy Scale (ESE) is being developed as an outcomes assessment instrument for social work courses focusing on evaluation. 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, pretest-posttest retrospective design, the current study (N = 111) is a direct replication of the original ESE study. In this replication, Cronbach's alphas for the ESE were .95 (pretest), .95 (posttest), and .96 (retrospective pretest). Evidence for the construct validity of the ESE is obtained. The results provide additional evidence supporting the psychometric properties of data obtained using the ESE, suggesting that it may be appropriate for use in educational outcomes assessment in general and accreditation-related research in particular.
Suggestions to improve social work journal editorial and peer-review process: the San Antonio response to the Miami Statement
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 18(1), January 2008, pp.66-71.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Interest in and concern about scholarly communications through social work journals seem to have increased recently. One indicator of this concern was the publication of the Miami statement. A Society for Social Work and Research Presidential Task Force was created to continue work on these issues. This article discusses the work of one subcommittee of that task force. This subcommittee developed a set of suggestions pertaining to the processes of submitting social work manuscripts to journals and to the system of editorial review and processing. The authors view these suggestions as expanding on the Miami statement.
An assessment of the predictive validity of impact factor scores: implications for academic employment decisions in social work
- Authors:
- HOLDEN Gary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research on Social Work Practice, 16(6), November 2006, pp.613-624.
- Publisher:
- Sage
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 of scholars' work, little empirical work has been published regarding the validity of such use. Method: A proportionate, stratified, random sample, of 323 articles was selected from 17 Web of Science listed social work journals published during the 1992 to 1994 period. The relationship between journals' IFSs and the actual impact of articles published in those journals (predictive validity) was r= .41 (short term) and r = .42 (long term). It is concluded that the practice of using the IFS as a proxy indicator of article impact merits significant concern as well as further empirical investigation.