Holly K. Oxhandler

The Development and Validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale

Objective: This article describes the development and validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale (RSIPAS). The RSIPAS is designed to assess social work practitioners’ self-efficacy, attitudes, behaviors, and perceived feasibility concerning the assessment or integration of clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs in clinical practice. Methods: After establishing content validity of the RSIPAS with a group of nationally known experts in the area of religion/spirituality and behavioral health, a national sample of master’s social workers (N = 482) was randomly selected to assess the scale’s internal consistency, criterion validity, discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Results: Findings support the scale’s reliability (α = .95), criterion validity, discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Conclusions: The RSIPAS may be a useful instrument for elucidating current views and training needs among social work practitioners or to evaluate the outcomes of training or educational programs that provide content on religion and spirituality in the practice context.

Feasibility of Virtual Reality Environments for Adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder

Purpose: This study assessed the feasibility of virtual reality (VR) exposure as an assessment and treatment modality for youth with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Methods: Forty-one adolescents, 20 of which were identified as having SAD, were recruited from a community sample. Youth with and without SAD were exposed to two social virtual environments—party and public speaking—and two neutral virtual environments. Results: All youth reported significantly higher ratings on the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) during the party and public speaking scenarios compared to the two neutral environments, while youth with SAD reported significantly higher SUDS in the public speaking and party environments than those without SAD. Youth also demonstrated acceptable levels of presence and immersion in the VR environments. Discussion: VR exposure treatment appears to be feasible for youth with SAD, highlighting the need for further research on its development.

Social Work Field Instructors’ Views and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice

This article presents the results of a cross-sectional study of social work field instructors’ views of and implementation of the evidence-based practice (EBP) process and compares their responses with non-field instructors. A total of 688 National Association of Social Workers/Texas members (107 of which were field instructors) anonymously responded to an online administration of the Evidence-Based Practice Process Assessment Scale–Short. The results suggest generally positive attitudes among field instructors and high levels of familiarity but lower levels of perceived feasibility and engagement in the EBP process. In addition, field instructors and non-field instructors did not differ significantly across the 4 subscales or overall orientation toward the EBP process. Implications and future steps for social work education are discussed.

Revalidating the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale With Five Helping Professions:

Objective: This article describes the validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Process Assessment Scale (RSIPAS) across five helping professions. The RSIPAS was originally developed to measure clinical social workers’ self-efficacy, attitudes, perceived feasibility, behaviors, and overall orientation toward integrating clients’ religion and spirituality in practice. Method: The current study examines the internal consistency and criterion, discriminant, convergent, and factorial validity of this instrument with a sample of clinical social workers, psychologists, nurses, counselors, and marriage and family therapists in Texas (N = 550). Results: Findings support the reliability (α = .95) and various forms of validity, with an improved fit in the factor structure among this more diverse sample. Conclusions: The RSIPAS may be used among these five helping professions to identify training needs or evaluate training efforts related to the integration of clients’ religious or spiritual beliefs in mental and behavioral health treatment.

Social Work Field Instructors’ Integration of Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice

ABSTRACT This article describes a national sample of social work field instructors’ responses to a cross-sectional survey of social workers’ orientation toward integrating clients’ religion and spirituality into practice and compares their responses with those of nonfield instructors. Four hundred sixty-nine social workers, including 69 MSW field instructors, anonymously responded to an online version of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale. Field instructors reported high levels of self-efficacy, positive attitudes, and few barriers to integrating clients’ religion and spirituality, yet fewer reported engaging in behaviors related to this area of practice. Compared with nonfield instructors, few differences emerged across items; however, field instructors reported higher behavior subscale scores, compared with nonfield instructors. Implications and future considerations for social work field education are discussed.

Religion and spirituality among young adults with severe mental illness.

Young adulthood (18–25 years old) is a period in which the onset of mental illnesses peaks. For young adults with serious mental illness and histories of adversity, access to appropriate, culturally sensitive care is critical. Religion and spirituality (RS) are interwoven into many individuals’ culture and are increasingly recognized as important constructs worth considering in the assessment and treatment of mental illness. This study examined data from a qualitative study of 55 young adults with serious mental illness who had used crisis emergency services to explore (a) how vulnerable young adults in psychiatric crisis talk about RS and (b) how religion/spirituality emerge in the narratives of their experiences, understanding and management of their mental health problems. Thirty-four of the 55 youth described RS organically within their interview. Across these interviews, four themes emerged: positive RS coping, negative RS coping, relationship with God, and implications for RS and mental health. Further, RS was described as a very complex topic for this sample, suggesting training is necessary for mental health care providers to appropriately assess and integrate this area of young adults’ lives. Implications and considerations for future studies are discussed.

Religion and Spirituality in Master of Social Work Education: Past, Present, and Future Considerations

ABSTRACT This article describes the assessment of accredited or in-candidacy master of social work programs’ inclusion of a course on religion and spirituality (RS) in the United States. In June 2016, of the 257 eligible programs, 78 (30.4%) indicated they offer at least one required or elective course on RS in social work, either in or outside the department. A content analysis of the 90 available course descriptions specific to RS in social work indicated religious or spiritual traditions and diversity, social work ethics, and spiritually sensitive practice were common topics. Twenty syllabi were reviewed, and a content analysis on their required readings and assignments was also conducted. Implications and future steps for social work educators and the profession to consider are included.