The Journal of Teaching in Social Work plans to publish a Special Issue on Social Work Education toward Serving Military and Veteran Populations at the end of 2017, with guest editors Dr. Elisa Borah, from the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Eugenia L. Weiss, from the University of Southern California. We invite manuscripts that address all aspects pertaining to education for social workers who will be serving active duty members of the military, military veterans, and their families. Full–time and part–time faculty may wish to contribute, along with agency–based practitioners who have experience serving this client population. The focus of manuscripts should be on teaching, curriculum, and field education approaches for students in baccalaureate, masters or doctoral social work programs, or on providing continuing education or in–service training to social work practitioners. [See, “Instructions for Authors” at www.tandfonline.com/loi/wtsw20]
Preferred manuscripts will be those that provide a systematic and rigorous formative or summative assessment of current educational initiatives, or that offer a detailed and conceptually focused description and rationale for prospective programs, outreach or curricula. (Manuscripts should include an evaluation of both the strengths and limitations of an activity, whether proposed or previously conducted.) As is our custom, all manuscripts will undergo a traditional double-blind peer review. The final decision on acceptance, as always, will be the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief.
Topics to Address Might Include the Following
What are the current contributions of Army, Navy and Air Force Medical Service Corps social workers and officers in serving military personnel and their families that should inform current educational offerings?
What is the relevance of the new 2015 EPAS Competencies in supporting curriculum options for the preparation of BSW and MSW students to serve members of the military, and military veterans?
What have been the recent research findings, experiences and innovations at The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, VA centers and other mental health clinics which should be incorporated in social work education?
What do current evidence-based outcome studies teach us regarding how to educate social workers to deliver “best practices” with this client population?
Is there data that could be harnessed and usefully studied by doctoral social work students engaged in dissertations?
What can the U.S. learn about effective social work pedagogy in this area from offerings in other countries?
What should represent the core class and field curriculum for an MSW specialization in this area?
How can agencies, schools, and professional associations best develop and offer continuing education (CE) offerings in this practice arena?
What have been effective courses for teaching practice methods to social work students, or continuing education enrollees, related to serving this population?
Description, evaluation and discussion of social work education courses and programs in this area successfully provided via workplace or home-based study, online courses, CD-ROM and Webinar options, and similar online and self-paced instructional formats.
Fostering and managing difficult classroom dialogues with both veteran and non-veteran students.
Opportunities for building social, emotional and financial support for veterans entering accredited social work education programs.
Teaching or curricula innovations in meeting the needs of service members and veterans who may experience additional discrimination and stress due to their status as women and/or their racial, GLBT or disability status.
Strategies and techniques for infusing core military social work knowledge throughout the MSW curriculum.
Developing appropriate field practicum options for student veterans seeking to enter the social work profession.
Classroom management of student veterans with combat related injuries, disorders or disabilities.
Questions regarding the requirements for manuscript submission can be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief at: [email protected]. Questions regarding appropriate topics for this special issue can be addressed to either Elisa Borah [[email protected]] or to Eugenia L. Weiss [[email protected]].
DEADLINE for manuscript submission: 1 June 2017