Assessing new child welfare worker competency through social simulation with standardized clients: rubric development and pilot testing

ABSTRACT

Child welfare training programs for new employees strive to develop and implement competency-based training approaches. The authors of this article describe the development and validation of a rubric to measure the readiness of new child welfare workers for client engagement and interviewing. The rubric was designed to measure key competencies, based on a review of the literature, including rapport-building, communication and information gathering; and critical safety assessment. The rubric was designed for use with social simulation training, where participants are observed as they simulate skill demonstration toward mastery of competencies. Analysis of both adult and child rubrics revealed good validity and high inter-rater reliability, highlighting their value for the evaluation of new child welfare worker readiness based on key competencies necessary for effective practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Child welfare training
• leadership
• administration and supervision
• worker readiness
• competency-based training
• assessment and evaluation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kirsten Havig

Kirsten Havig, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor with the University of Wyoming Division of Social Work. Her research and teaching center around child welfare policy and practice; trauma, resilience, and posttraumatic growth; and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Dr. Havig worked as a clinical professor under the University of Missouri’s Title IV-E Traineeship Program for two years, and prior to her work in academia, she served as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in a variety of child welfare settings.

Angela Pharris

Angela Pharris, BSW, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor with the University of Oklahoma’s Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and Coordinator for the Center for Child Welfare Training & Simulation. Her research is focused on policy implementation, specifically state strategies for policy implementation in child welfare. Dr. Pharris’s professional practice includes work in child welfare training and mental health.

David Axlyn McLeod

David Axlyn McLeod, MSW, PhD, is an Assistant Professor with the University of Oklahoma’s Anne and Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and Knee Center for Strong Families Coordinator. His current professional activities include investigations of forensic psychopathology and differential criminal behavior development, female sexual offending, child sexual abuse, forensic social work, and intra-professional and multidisciplinary collaboration.

Anthony P. Natale

Anthony P. Natale, MSW, PhD is an Associate Professor, joining the faculty in 2005. Dr. Natale was the Graduate Coordinator in Social Work for 6 years and Assistant Director for 3.5 years. He now serves as the Graduate College Faculty Fellow for Inclusive Excellence.  Dr. Natale’s teaching interests include social welfare policy, human lifespan development, human diversity and oppression, and human sexuality.  He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses.

Julie Miller-Cribbs

Julie Miller-Cribbs is Director and Oklahoma Medicaid Endowed Professor of Mental Health in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work at the University of Oklahoma. Her current research amplifies factors pertaining to vulnerability, strengths, and functioning in the arenas of diversity, health, and community life. She was also instrumental in establishing in Oklahoma a partnership with the Haruv Institute for Child Welfare.