A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital

A comparison of two types of fieldwork was undertaken with 26 social work students in a large urban hospital. The first group was assigned to a traditional, year long placement. The second group was assigned to three successive placements of approximately 10 weeks each. The impact of these two types of placement on students’ general sense of self-efficacy, self-efficacy regarding specific hospital social work activities and perceptions of the work environment, was assessed. Initial results suggest that both groups produce virtually no change in students’ general sense of selfefficacy, yet produce positive changes in students’ self-efficacy regarding hospital social work. In addition, results suggest that the fieldwork rotation used in the second group may produce somewhat more positive views of the work environment. Final version of the manuscript for citation: Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Rutter, S. Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital. Social Work in Health Care, 24, 73-91. © by The Haworth Press, Inc

Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90

A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital

A comparison of two types of fieldwork was undertaken with 26 social work students in a large urban hospital. The first group was assigned to a traditional, year long placement. The second group was assigned to three successive placements of approximately 10 weeks each. The impact of these two types of placement on students’ general sense of self-efficacy, self-efficacy regarding specific hospital social work activities and perceptions of the work environment, was assessed. Initial results suggest that both groups produce virtually no change in students’ general sense of selfefficacy, yet produce positive changes in students’ self-efficacy regarding hospital social work. In addition, results suggest that the fieldwork rotation used in the second group may produce somewhat more positive views of the work environment. Final version of the manuscript for citation: Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Rutter, S. Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital. Social Work in Health Care, 24, 73-91. © by The Haworth Press, Inc

Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90

The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale

The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale (HSWSE, based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory) was designed as an outcome measure of social workers' confidence regarding their ability to perform specific hospital social work tasks. Evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the data obtained with the HSWSE was found in a series of studies. References include: Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: Initial development. Research on Social Work Practice, 6, 353-365. Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (1997). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: A replication. Research on Social Work Practice, 7, 490-499. Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., Spitzer, W. & Rosenberg, G. (1997). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: A partial replication and extension. Health & Social Work, 22, 256-263. Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Chernack, P., Rutter, S., & Rosenberg, G. (1997). Evaluating social work field instruction: Rotations versus year-long placements. Research on Social Work Practice, 7, 402-414. Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Rutter, S. Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital. Social Work in Health Care, 24, 73-91

Student attribution of teacher affect in contexts of behavioral and academic failure

Children within educational settings face a multitude of messages from contexts, authority figures, peers, and from their successes and failures. This research was conducted to explore how children make sense of teacher emotions in situations of failure. Evaluating student perceptions of teacher affect has important implications on ways to motivate children to improve academic and behavioral outcomes and develop a positive self-concept. This study utilized MANOVA analyses to evaluate the interactions between teacher affect (anger and sympathy), student attributions of teacher emotion (effort and ability), and context of failure (achievement and behavior) for participant age (8-11) and gender. Participants recruited from private and public, elementary and middle schools in urban communities of Brooklyn, New York, rated student attributions of teacher affect based on scripts of hypothetical situations between a student and teacher, and completed a self-report measure. Results indicated that participants made predictable attributions of lack of effort with teacher anger and lack of ability was associated with sympathetic teacher reactions. The gender and age of the participant did not significantly influence the affect-attribution links. However, for sympathy-ability associations, context was found to have a main effect and the interaction between context and age was also statistically significant. Specifically, sympathy-ability for an achievement failure clearly exceeded mean ratings for a behavioral failure. The difference between contexts for sympathy-ability associations was also found for younger students, but older students indicated negligible differences between contexts. These findings validate and provide a point of departure for developmental differences seen with affect-attribution associations posited by Weiner and colleagues. Children derive predictable messages from teacher sympathetic affect based on the type of failure experienced, which changes over time. Within a small window of three years, a perceptual rigidity locks ability in as the determining factor to success across behavioral and achievement settings. Teachers, by decreasing sympathetic messages and increasing opportunities to succeed in multiple contexts, can act to circumvent student feelings and behaviors that connote helplessness and low self-worth

The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale

The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale (HSWSE, based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory) was designed as an outcome measure of social workers' confidence regarding their ability to perform specific hospital social work tasks. Evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the data obtained with the HSWSE was found in a series of studies. References include: Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: Initial development. Research on Social Work Practice, 6, 353-365. Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (1997). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: A replication. Research on Social Work Practice, 7, 490-499. Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., Spitzer, W. & Rosenberg, G. (1997). The Hospital Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale: A partial replication and extension. Health & Social Work, 22, 256-263. Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Chernack, P., Rutter, S., & Rosenberg, G. (1997). Evaluating social work field instruction: Rotations versus year-long placements. Research on Social Work Practice, 7, 402-414. Cuzzi, L. C., Holden, G., Rutter, S. Rosenberg, G., & Chernack, P. (1996). A pilot study of fieldwork rotations vs. year long placements for social work students in a public hospital. Social Work in Health Care, 24, 73-91