Serving The Community and Training Social Workers: Service Ouptputs and Students Outcomes

Running head : SOCIAL WORK CONSULTATION SERVICES

Article Critique : A Study on the Efficiency of the Social Work Consultation Services

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Article Critique : A Study on the Efficiency of the Social Work Consultation Services

The university agency Social Work Consultation Services (SWCS ) is an organization founded by Widener University Center for Social Work Education to provide a broad range of generalist social work practice experiences for students (Poulin , 2006 ,

. 171 . Thus , it is relevant that a study regarding the

fruits of the organization 's efforts be evaluated . It is the subject and goal of the study of Poulin and his associates in the journal article which is reviewed in the subsequent discussions

Scope of the Research

The research study basically evaluates the SWCS efficiency in providing a better social work educational experience for the university 's students for the past four years of its existence . Specifically , Poulin and co-researchers (2006 ) seek to answer the following questions in the course of the study

Is there a difference between SWCS interns and those in traditional field placements in terms of their micro and macro practice skills development

What do SWCS interns perceive as the benefits and limitations of an SWCS field placement

Do SWCS interns articulate commitment to civic engagement and working in under-resourced communities (p . 171

The questions sought in the study are relevant since these queries will determine the success of the founded agency and its impact on the students ' social work education . It determines the effective method of teaching that the agency offers to social work student interns

Data Collection Methods

The research is a descriptive as well as inferential study in a sense that both methods of analysis of data were employed . Data collection was done qualitatively and quantitatively (Poulin , 2006 ,

. 178 ) or descriptively and inferentially respectively . Quantitative inferential data was obtained through a survey questionnaire for the student interns at SWCS as well as those at traditional field placements . The 76-item questionnaire was used to self-rate the skills development of the student interns for three consecutive academic years , namely , 2002 2003 , 2004 where each item is rated with a Liker-type . The survey form sub-categorized to skills related to helping process , the use of self and social work practice with individual , family group , organizational and community client systems scale . Random sampling technique was used to collect data with the sample size of 24 for SWCS interns and 38 for traditional field placement interns 178

Data collection was not assured of good sample due to the small sample size . This very fact was also admitted by the researchers in their discussion of the limitations of the study (Poulin , 2006 , 181 . However they assured the reliability of the sample by the long time frame of the survey which was three years . Consent of the participants is evident by the use of questionnaires filled up by the respondents themselves Nevertheless , no indication of confidentiality or anonymity is discussed in the research article...