The health social work competency rating scale: development of a tool for education and practice

ABSTRACT

Integrating contextual competency frameworks into health social work education and practice can bolster student training and staff supervision strategies. This article describes the iterative development of a Health Social Work Competency Rating Scale (HSWCRS), generated using a competency framework tested through simulation and an iterative research process with healthcare social workers. A modified Delphi method consisting of an e-mail questionnaire, two discussion meetings, and two rounds of classroom-based testing were employed to develop and refine the scale with the participation of clinicians, students, and researchers. The HSWCRS is designed to convey the core competencies required for single-session social work consultations in a healthcare setting by assessing formal elements (such as introduction, validation, cultural inclusiveness, client centredness), use of self (such as self-awareness, positionality), and an overall assessment of knowledge and skills. This scale adds to the competency-based education literature in social work by offering a guide to assess and measure key healthcare social work competencies in a range of educational environments, and has the potential to guide practice in educational and practice settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Competency
• healthcare
• user participation
• students
• supervision
• problem based learning
• simulation
• rating scale

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Acknowledgments

We thank students for their active participation and the Larry Enkin Simulation Fund for providing support for this study. Dr. Craig is a Canada Research Chair. Mr. Eaton holds a salary award from the Ontario HIV Treatment Network.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canada Research Chairs; Ontario HIV Treatment Network [EFP-1100]; Larry Enkin Simulation Fund and a small Canadian family fund.

Notes on contributors

Shelley L. Craig

Shelley L. Craig, PhD, LCSW is a Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) at the University of Toronto. and is the Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth (SGMY). She has decades of health social work practice experience. She directs the International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR). Dr. Craig’s research is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Lauren B. McInroy

Lauren B. McInroy, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University. Her research investigates the impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the well-being of marginalized adolescents and emerging adults. She explores how LGBTQ+ youth build communities of support, engage in identity development activities, foster resilience and well-being, and engage in advocacy using digital technologies.

Ami Goulden

Ami Goulden, MA, MSW, RSW, is a PhD student at the FIFSW. Ami has been practicing social work in different settings including child welfare, and pediatric and adult healthcare for over ten years in Canada. Ami’s research interests include social work practice with disabled youth, reproductive health and justice, critical research methodologies, and universal design for learning in social work education.

Andrew D. Eaton

Andrew D. Eaton, MSW, RSW, is a PhD Candidate at the FIFSW. He has practiced social work for over a decade, primarily with people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. He holds a Student Leader Award from the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN). Mr. Eaton’s research is supported by grants from the OHTN and the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN).

Toula Kourgiantakis

Toula Kourgiantakis, PhD, RSW, CCFT, is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream with the FIFSW. Her research interests are equity-focused and family-centred practices in mental health and addictions, mental health in young adults, social work education, as well as simulation-based learning. Dr. Kourgiantakis is a Registered Social Worker and Certified Couple and Family Therapist with over 25 years of clinical experience that informs her teaching and research.

Marion Bogo

Marion Bogo, O.C., LL.D, MSW, RSW, is Professor at the FIFSW. Her long-standing program of research focuses on social work education, specifically field education, the conceptualization and assessment of professional competence, and more recently simulation-based education.

Keith Adamson

Keith Adamson, PhD, RSW, is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream with the FIFSW. He has over two decades of progressive senior management experience in clinical and professional practice leadership roles. Dr. Adamson pursues research that seeks to explore innovative pedagogical approaches to interprofessional education and practice, research that explores new roles for social work within a changing healthcare system, as well as research that explores how compassionate care and empathy can be enhanced in social work education through collaboration with service users, clients and their families

Gio Iacono

Gio Iacono, PhD, RSW, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Connecticut. His research and scholarly interests include: LGBTQ+ youth mental health, resilience, social work education and mindfulness-based treatment approaches. Gio has worked as a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, educator, and researcher in a variety of health and community-based settings. Gio’s community development work has been focused on promoting the mental and sexual health of diverse and marginalized communities.

Lina Gagliardi

Lina Gagliardi, MSW, RSW, graduated FIFSW with her MSW in 2000 and has since practiced in both a clinical and professional leadership capacity at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Lina is passionate about advancing the role and education of social work practice to help shape the future of clinical care within a hospital acute care setting. Lina is an adjunct lecturer at the FIFSW and a PBRI Appointed Researcher at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. Lina has published in the area of Advance Care Planning and the role of SW and is inspired how the human experience informs Social Work practice and education.

Tory Krasovec

Tory Krasovec, MSW, RSW, is a Social Worker at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network. He has years of direct practice experience, including in mental health, addictions, and community support.

Margo Small

Margo Small, MSW, RSW, is a social worker in private practice. She is a retired Social Worker from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, ON, Canada. She has provided counselling for over thirty years to individuals, families, and couples who are challenges by issues including mental health, trauma, relationship issues, adjustment to illness, and immigration.