Responding to COVID-19: New Trends in Social Workers ’ Use of Information and Communication Technology
AbstractCOVID-19 changed the context for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use globally. With face-to-face practice restricted, almost all communication with clients shifted to ICTs. Starting in April 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with social workers from four agencies serving diverse populations in a large urban centre, with the aim of exploring social workers ’ informal ICT use with clients. Approximately 6 weeks after the cessation of face-to-face practice in March 2020 due to COVID-19 measures, we re-interviewed social workers (n = 11) who had participated in our study. Second intervi...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - November 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Computerized Clinical Training Simulations with Virtual Clients Abusing Alcohol: Initial Feasibility, Acceptability, and Effectiveness
AbstractAlthough masters-level social work students typically build clinical skills via role-playing with their peers or instructors, several innovative training simulations are emerging in the literature that may enhance existing skill-building methodologies. We evaluated the initial feasibility, acceptability, usability, and effectiveness of three computerized simulations (two cognitive behavioral therapy, one motivational interviewing) during an interpersonal practice course among 22 students in a Master of Social Work program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Trainees repetitively practiced their clin...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - November 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Use of Simulation Methods in Social Work Research on Clinical Decision-Making
AbstractWhile simulation has become an increasingly sophisticated and standardized method of clinical teaching and performance assessment in social work, unlike other clinical and health care fields, it is not generally used in other areas of social work research. Yet, it has the potential to address challenges and limitations in several areas of social work research. For instance, in the area of professional decision-making, research has demonstrated high variability in the conclusions of not only different professionals encountering the same case, but also in a single professional encountering a case at different times. ...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - November 10, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Guidelines for Advancing Clinical Social Work Practice Through Articulating Practice Competencies: The Toronto Simulation Model
AbstractKnowledge for clinical social work practice is ever evolving and consists of underlying explanatory concepts, practice models, and intervention skills. Conceptualization and identification of competencies for practice provides a bridge from knowledge and understanding to actual skills needed in clinical sessions. Articulating competencies also guides education of students and provides grounded skills and behaviors needed for clinical research. Analysis of simulation-based practice provides a useful methodology to identify generic practice competencies as well as competencies in specialized fields of practice. This ...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - October 31, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Precedent of Good Enough Therapy During Unprecedented Times
AbstractThe unprecedented nature of the coronavirus pandemic and clinicians ’ own concerns for safety and stability amidst collective uncertainty have threatened to undermine our ability to trust what we already know about our clients and how to help them. Rather than search for a novel solution, I suggest that what we need during a shared crisis is to renew our trust in the existing ethos of good enough therapy, a metaphoric corollary to Winnicott’s concept of good enough mothering, which presupposes the realities of imperfection and uncertainty along the continuum of growth. Using personal reflections, clinical vigne...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - October 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
In the Fertile Minefield: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities with Facilitating Self-development and Growth in the Intercultural and Interracial Clinical Treatment Dyad
AbstractThe “use of self” is a powerful tool that social workers rely upon to facilitate treatment growth for their clients. Yet, for many ethnic and racial minority clinicians, their self contains personal, psychological, social, and cultural aspects that they must acknowledge, examine and negotiate as the y enter into the clinical arena. The therapeutic world is increasingly diverse, therefore, the profession must address issues relating to researching, educating, training, supervising, and supporting clinicians from diverse backgrounds to attend with greater knowledge and self-examination. They must attend to the nu...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - October 20, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Long-Term Effects of a Cult Childhood on Attachment, Intimacy, and Close Relationships: Results of an In-Depth Interview Study
This study aimed to investigate these cultic childhood experiences and their long-term effects on the individual development and the further lives of those affected. Former cult members (n = 16) who were born and raised in cultic groups participated in an in-depth qualitative interview study. The findings indicate that growing up in a family belonging to a cult is often associated with serious restrictions, burdens and even traumatization. Later in life, this may lead to the deve lopment of self-esteem problems, mental disorders, and difficulties in intimate relationships. Individual life experiences should be taken i...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - October 20, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Connecting Loose Ends: Integrating Science into Psychoanalytic Theory
AbstractFreud wanted to be a scientist but fell short of this goal in several ways: first by attempting to make psychoanalysis consistent with Newtonian physics, second by not being rigorous with the scientific method, and finally, by responding to political and social needs. As a result, science did not welcome psychoanalysis into its fold. Fortunately, this is changing. In the years since Freud ’s death, two science-based psychoanalytic theories have developed: attachment theory and affect theory. They are both measurable and supported by social psychology, neuroscience, and infant research. We will explore the central...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - October 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Using Simulation as an Investigative Methodology in Researching Competencies of Clinical Social Work Practice: A Scoping Review
This article reports a scoping review designed to synthesize current literature that used simulation as an investigative methodology (simulation-based research; SBR) in researching practice competencies in clinical social work. Following Arksey and O ’Malley’s scoping review framework, 24 articles were included in this scoping review. The majority of articles reported SBR studies conducted in Canada and the U.S. and were published in the last 10 years, signifying that this is a burgeoning area of research in clinical social work. Areas of c linical competencies included professional decision-making (33%), the role of ...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - September 23, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The Scope of Psychotherapy Integration: Introduction to a Special Issue
(Source: Clinical Social Work Journal)
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 23, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Adapting Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Treat Complex Trauma in Police Officers
AbstractPolice officers are at risk of being exposed to multiple traumas throughout their careers. Compared to the general population, police officers are also at elevated risk for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), increased suicidal ideation, and increased substance use. Cognitive-behavioral interventions have proven empirical validity for the prevention and treatment of PTSD and complex trauma. However, the efficacy of these interventions in police officers has not been studied. This paper will provide the practitioner with an overview of the factors that contribute to the complexity of trauma exp...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 22, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Couple Therapy Integrated: A Commentary on Couple Impasses —Three Therapeutic Approaches
AbstractCouple therapy is too complex, and too important, to be undertaken under the sway of doctrinal orthodoxy. Integrating various schools of thought enlarges our toolkit and optimizes our efforts. In their excellent paper, “Couple Impasses: Three Therapeutic Approaches, Siegel, Goldman, and Fishbane provide three contemporary examples of such integration. In this commentary, I will note some commonalities in their work, highlight some singularly useful ideas from each author’s section, and conclude with some of my own thoughts about integrating and sequencing interventions in couple therapy. (Source: Clinical Social Work Journal)
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 17, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
How to be Yourself: Student Perspectives on Learning Use of Self
AbstractUse of self is a core concept in the development of authentic social work and human services practice. For students with a history of adversity, learning how to integrate past adverse experiences into their use of self can be difficult. Adversity may have motivated many to enter the helping professions, but students may not always be sure how and when their adverse experiences can be integrated into their use of self. A qualitative survey of students from three different universities in South East Queensland, Australia, found that recognizing experiences of adversity and their impact could be an essential component...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 10, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Levels of Meaning and the Need for Psychotherapy Integration
AbstractWe argue for the importance of multitheoretical integrative clinical intervention and training. Mental health professionals, including clinical social workers, are frequently primarily committed to a single dominant therapeutic theory, perhaps one that was favored by a school, fieldwork agency, inspiring teacher, or influential supervisor. However, each such theory tends to target just one aspect of the extraordinarily complex human meaning system that scientific research has shown to operate at biological, neuroscientific, behavioral, cognitive, unconscious, family-systems, and cultural levels in complexly interac...
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 9, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Toward an Integrated Psychoanalytic Theory: Foundation in a Revitalized Ego Psychology
AbstractI propose that a revised and expanded ego psychology constitutes the strongest foundation for a unified psychoanalytic theory that is capable of integrating different psychoanalytic schools and also capable of assimilating and integrating relevant findings from non-psychoanalytic disciplines. (Source: Clinical Social Work Journal)
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - July 8, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
