How Do Social Workers Respond to Potential Child Neglect?

Although neglect is a common form of child maltreatment, it can be difficult to detect within a clinical interview between a social work clinician and client for the purpose of assessment and intervention, leading to a failure to act and secure a child's safety. This Canadian study utilized the objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) to assess social work clinicians' ability to recognize and respond to a case of suspected child neglect. Twenty-three participants (social work students, recent graduates of a Masters in Social Work programme, and experienced social workers) conducted a 15-minute interview with a standardized client followed by a structured reflective dialogue focusing on case conceptualization and emotional awareness. Qualitative analysis of the reflective dialogues revealed participants' difficulty in detecting child neglect as opposed to focusing on a client's negative self-beliefs or mental health issues. Implications for social work education and practice are suggested

Teaching Note—Social Work Serial: Using Video-Recorded Simulated Client Sessions to Teach Social Work Practice

Simulation, the use of trained actors as simulated clients, has gained empirical support as an effective teaching and assessment method in social work education. The associated costs involving the use of live simulation, however, often pose a barrier and prevent less resourced schools from implementing this pedagogical approach in the classroom. Social Work Serial is a pedagogical project that used video-recorded simulated client sessions as an alternative to live simulation. In this teaching note, we will describe step-by-step production and implementation processes involving the project and discuss the implications of video-based simulation for social work education

Teaching Note—Enhancing Social Work Education in Mental Health, Addictions, and Suicide Risk Assessment

Social workers play a critical role in assessing and treating individuals and families with mental health and addiction concerns. Although social workers are key professionals in the mental health workforce, there are gaps in the training and education of mental health, addictions, and suicide, and many students are inadequately prepared for field education. Simulation-based learning is an exemplar method of teaching and assessing practice competencies across several health-care professions including social work. This teaching note describes a simulation-based learning activity in which MSW students build competence in mental health, substance use, and suicide risk assessments with standardized clients. This innovation is integrated in a social work practice in mental health course and was developed in partnership with a community mental health and addiction treatment center. Through this partnership, we developed core competencies, case scenarios, as well as teaching resources and assessment instruments. An advisory committee consisting of MSW students, faculty members, and field instructors evaluated the simulation-based learning innovation and made recommendations for the next iteration. Implications for teaching social work practice in mental health are discussed