Articulating and Evaluating Clinical Practice Competencies: Results from Simulation-Based Research Studies

Overview: This panel will highlight three independent studies that articulated and/or evaluated practice competencies. From clinical decision-making, cross-cultural engagement to clinicians’ commitment to social justice, each presenter used simulation as an innovative investigative methodology in researching clinical practice. Results will offer implications for competency-based clinical education in social work.Proposal text: Originally developed in medicine (Cleland et al., 2009), simulation-based teaching, learning and student assessment are rapidly gaining research evidence and popularity in social work education (Author; Gellis & Kim, 2017; Pecukonis et al., 2016; Rawlings, 2012; Washburn & Zhou, 2018). Simulation can also be used as an investigative methodology in researching competencies of clinical social work practice (Author). The purpose of this proposed panel is to canvas the work of simulation-based clinical researchers and offer implications for competency-based social work education.

We will first discuss the use of simulation as a research methodology (Author). A recent scoping review conducted by (Author) found that simulation, which allows researchers to standardize the practice scenarios and observe real-time practice, is particularly suitable for research on practice competencies that are otherwise hard to observe among students and social work practitioners. Next, each panelist will discuss respective simulation-based research studies on clinical competencies.

Panelist 1 will present a mixed-methods study which used simulation to elucidate the decision-making factors of social work students and practitioners to report child maltreatment. Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), Master of Social Work (MSW) students and experienced social workers (Nf19) participated in one of two, simulated child maltreatment vignettes. While six participants discussed the duty to report during the simulation, 13 participants did not. Prior training in mandatory reporting or child maltreatment or with past experience reporting to child protection services was not associated with current reporting behaviors during the simulation. Participant explanations for non-reporting included conceptualizing the parent’s discipline as benevolent or from parent mental health concerns.

Panelist 2 will present a study that examined the intersection of cross-cultural practice and child welfare practice, using simulation. This study, using theoretically-informed mixed-methods approach, examined whether there are differences in social work student’s acknowledgement of culture and child maltreatment when working with simulated clients. BSW and MSW (Nf31) students completed an online reflective questionnaire after participating a three-hour voluntary simulation workshop involving one of three socio-culturally diverse scenarios. Half of the participants acknowledged the client’s ethno-cultural identity. Statistical differences were found between participants who acknowledged the client’s ethno-cultural identity versus those who did not, with respect to their overall learning benefits.

Panelist 3 will discuss a simulation-based research study on critical social work (an umbrella term used to encompass anti-racist, anti-oppressive, postcolonial, and other principles from a critical social theory tradition) and its implications for clinical practice with a commitment to social justice. We observed how experienced clinicians (Nf8) engaged one simulated client who presented concerns related to various forms of social marginalization. Qualitative analyses of the video-recorded sessions and post-session interviews with participants suggest how these clinicians conceptualized and engaged the principles of critical social work in similar and varying ways.

The panelists will collectively offer implications for how educators might assist students in developing a range of clinical competences, including clinical decisions related to potential child maltreatment, cross-cultural engagement and commitment to social justice, and integrating and implementing them in clinical practice.