Roberta R. Greene

Current Realities: Practice and Education Needs of Social Workers in Nursing Homes

This article reports survey data from nursing home professional social workers on their practice circumstances, prior education and training, and current training needs. This data supports the growing body of evidence that a significant portion of social work practitioners are unlikely to have received the depth of information and the specialized skills required to work with the aged and their families during their formal education. Assuming limited personnel and time, and the responsibility of many different persons for psychosocial care -the practice reality in nursing homes today-- this data can guide education and training efforts.

A Competency Approach to Curriculum Building: A Social Work Mission

Summary This article discusses The John A. Hartford Foundation CSWE SAGE-SW Project through an historical reflection of curriculum development within the profession. The projects relationship to several curriculum building models is also explored. A curriculum development tool for combining the Hartford Competencies with the CSWE EPAS requirements is provided.

Social Workers’ Perceived Knowledge and Use of Human Behavior Theory

Human behavior curricula have reflected prevailing social and political contexts. They have been accompanied by changes in instructional emphases and have predicted changes in the theories used in practice. This article describes the results of a 1991 study of 225 social work practitioners that examined the trends in human behavior theories taught to master of social work students. The authors explored educational histories by surveying the practitioners’ current use of human behavior theory, including theoretical orientation, perceived competence, and effectiveness in cross-cultural social work practice. There were significant relationships between theories learned as well as current theory used and the decade in which the social worker received his or her master’s degree.