View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Meeting the Critical Need for Trauma Education in Social Work: A Problem-Based Learning Approach

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Meeting the Critical Need for Trauma Education in Social Work: A Problem-Based Learning Approach
Language: English
Authors: Strand, Virginia C., Abramovitz, Robert, Layne, Christopher M.
Source: Journal of Social Work Education. 2014 50(1):120-135.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 16
Publication Date: 2014
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Trauma, Course Objectives, Counselor Training, Social Work, Masters Programs, Graduate Students, Advanced Students, Children, Adolescents, Self Efficacy, Family (Sociological Unit), Teaching Methods, Problem Based Learning, Core Curriculum, Student Attitudes, Course Descriptions, Cognitive Restructuring, Behavior Modification, Therapy, Pretests Posttests
DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2014.856235#.U6HfifldVPo
ISSN: 1043-7797
Abstract: There is a growing imperative to prepare MSW social work students for trauma-informed evidence-based practice. Given strong recommendations and promising developments within social work education and practice in this regard, a clinical elective for the advanced-year MSW student that combines the guiding principles of trauma theory and problem-based learning was created. This article describes the course objectives, structure, and format and reports on an evaluation based on 7 (total) offerings of the course by 4 different schools of social work. The course methodology was found to be effective in all schools in significantly increasing students' self-confidence in working with traumatized children, adolescents, and their families. Implications for social work education are discussed.
Abstractor: As Provided
Number of References: 53
Entry Date: 2014
Accession Number: EJ1029658
Database: ERIC
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
    Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwHs4GzI_5ji6_E0Puf2GaP8AAAA4TCB3gYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHQMIHNAgEAMIHHBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDL6kKBoR9B1GifSbcAIBEICBmVYdgMVsXp455L9voINLuHp3zDkfiUVOeVKR4qa3TLrFvpJ5mzNdMLlCnyGXPoDVkOBNcmQLub7riRdKuuAfBy4pcBky3TacxH9pUVokh6UZxZoxQ0wmPncIMgzEWH71S0u7vYhNXC51WShwPxIpentoSjIZASUTXlA7sMCGL_jsNISjv-XvbAQgjbLedjPMdrBdu2_mRl7MJg==
Text:
  Availability: 1
  Value: <anid>AN0094614388;swe01jan.14;2019Apr02.13:44;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0094614388-1">Meeting the Critical Need for Trauma Education in Social Work: A Problem-Based Learning Approach. </title> <p>There is a growing imperative to prepare MSW social work students for trauma-informed evidence-based practice. Given strong recommendations and promising developments within social work education and practice in this regard, a clinical elective for the advanced-year MSW student that combines the guiding principles of trauma theory and problem-based learning was created. This article describes the course objectives, structure, and format and reports on an evaluation based on 7 (total) offerings of the course by 4 different schools of social work. The course methodology was found to be effective in all schools in significantly increasing students' self-confidence in working with traumatized children, adolescents, and their families. Implications for social work education are discussed.</p> <p>The obligation to prepare MSW social work students for trauma-informed practice continues to grow. Many clients, regardless of why they seek social work services, have experienced a range of trauma exposures—consisting of interpersonal violence and community violence, war-related refugee experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder, medical trauma, natural disasters, and traumatic loss. Many studies document the widespread prevalence of trauma exposure and its lasting effect across the life cycle ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref1">17</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref2">19</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref3">42</reflink>]) in all the populations served by social workers. Because social workers frequently interact with trauma-exposed clients, it is important to educate students within the profession to become confident and competent in exploring, assessing, and treating trauma-exposed clients and the debilitating emotional and behavioral conditions created by traumatization. In light of rapid advances in the neurobiology related to trauma and the advent of successful evidence-based trauma treatments, the incorporation of trauma-informed knowledge into the MSW curriculum is, indeed, an ethical imperative: social workers, as professionals, "should strive to become and remain proficient in professional practice and the performance of professional functions" and "critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work" ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref4">35</reflink>], Section 4.01).</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-2">LITERATURE REVIEW</hd> <p>A review of the literature regarding trauma content in the social work curriculum reveals that although some attention has been devoted to incorporating both knowledge about trauma and secondary traumatic stress, there is not the focus in social work education that one might expect given the prevalence of trauma exposure in clients served by social workers. [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref5">8</reflink>] underscores both the ethical obligations and the practical necessity of preparing MSW students to work effectively with traumatized clients, by noting that a program's obligation to prepare students to deal effectively with trauma exists even if the coursework is painful. This preparation should help them to differentiate between normative short-term reactions to trauma, including intrusive re-experiencing, isolation/detached feelings, and hyperarousal/hypervigilance, and the pathological persistence thereof for months following exposure to a traumatic event ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref6">31</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref7">10</reflink>]) experience working with survivors of the Chernobyl disaster highlights the critical need for social workers to avoid pathologizing client reactions. They advocate construction of an ecological, strengths-based model that uses social environmental supports combined with addressing individual difficulties.</p> <p>[<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref8">29</reflink>] argues for the inclusion of material on trauma in BSW programs, whose graduates often move immediately into practice settings (e.g., child welfare, hospitals, corrections, crisis centers) serving highly traumatized populations, thus increasing the likelihood of encountering a majority of clients with trauma histories. The author also underscores that the trauma lens incorporated into social work education highlight the important connection between trauma and oppression and emphasizes strength and resilience within individuals, groups, and communities. She also advocates for the adoption of multiple lenses of ethno-cultural and geopolitical contexts to evaluate trauma's varied effects and combine them with an appreciation of the roles played by racism, historical trauma, and oppression in its various forms, in contrast to adopting an individual construction of trauma.</p> <p>Other mental health disciplines have also called for the inclusion of coursework on trauma in graduate school curricula. [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref9">12</reflink>] advocate for the inclusion of addressing psychological trauma in psychology education, noting the ubiquity of trauma in the human experience and raising ethical concerns relating to the continuing exclusion of trauma training from the core clinical psychology curriculum. [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref10">37</reflink>] argue for the necessity of teaching counseling and psychology students knowledge and skills to work with traumatized clients, and they emphasize the need for training about strategies for dealing with secondary traumatic stress across the curriculum. [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref11">3</reflink>] reports on a course specifically designed to introduce trauma content to graduate counseling students without traumatizing the students.</p> <p>The focus on secondary traumatic stress represents a notable emphasis in the social work literature. This emphasis includes a focus on students' reactions to the emotional elements of trauma study, including vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref12">13</reflink>];[<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref13">14</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref14">30</reflink>]). This literature highlights the importance of recognizing the normalcy of students' strong emotional reactions to the material, while developing self-care strategies that learners can use effectively in both classroom-based training and professional settings. Although there is considerable literature on secondary traumatic stress and various types of trauma in the social work education literature (e.g., sexual abuse, domestic violence), the lack of attention to the construct of trauma speaks to a gap that the design and implementation of this course attempted to address.</p> <p>The social work literature contains another emphasis comparable with the calls for training in fundamental trauma-related competencies—that is, the critical need to incorporate basic knowledge, skills, and values essential to evidence-based practice (EBP) into the graduate social work curriculum. ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref15">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref16">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref17">20</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref18">23</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref19">24</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref20">28</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref21">34</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref22">33</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref23">41</reflink>]). EBP can be thought of as both a noun and a verb ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref24">41</reflink>]). This distinction encompasses an approach to professional practice (a verb) in which one is constantly asking clinically relevant questions (e.g., "What evidence supports the use of this treatment or practice element with this population?") and the use of empirically supported intervention (a noun).</p> <p>Concern about the low number of MSW programs that offer students training in EBP approaches has received attention. According to a recent article ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref25">5</reflink>]), less than 40% of MSW programs meet the gold standard of integrated clinical training as proposed by Weissman (2006). Gold standard training consists of didactic training in an empirically supported treatment (EST) paired with its implementation in a field setting with supervision by a clinician trained using the same EST. This 40% stands in contrast to 60% of psychology graduate schools and 90% of medical schools nationwide who provide training in at least one EST. To increase the prevalence of gold standard training in social work education, the importance of strengthening the link between classroom-based and field practicum learning settings ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref26">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref27">34</reflink>]) has received enhanced emphasis.</p> <p>Problem-based learning (PBL) has emerged as a valuable pedagogical method for training MSW students to adopt an evidence-based approach to professional practice. [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref28">22</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref29">25</reflink>]) strongly advocate for the use of PBL to prepare students for lifelong EBP, and [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref30">41</reflink>] and [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref31">20</reflink>] concur. Furthermore, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref32">33</reflink>] point to the uses of PBL in teaching how to formulate questions that are directly relevant to helping individual clients, and to seek answers to those questions in the empirical literature. [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref33">20</reflink>] underscores the utility of PBL in teaching learners to construct their own knowledge, and to use that skill in lifelong learning. [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref34">2</reflink>] found PBL to be a potentially valuable asset for social work education. Notably, some educators have argued for the use of the term <emph>inquiry-based learning</emph> instead of PBL given that the former term moves away from "problems" as the defining context for clinical practice and thus makes it more compatible with the strengths-based perspective endorsed in social work ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref35">39</reflink>]).</p> <p>Initial evaluations of the use of PBL in social work education have yielded promising results. For example, in a pre–post evaluation of a 40-item measure of knowledge, skills, and values in 132 students, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref36">52</reflink>] found significant improvements in all three domains. The authors concluded that students who are motivated to engage in deep learning and who engage in deep learning strategies reap the most benefit from PBL. More generally, comparison studies of nationally standardized exam scores of students in PBL and PBL-related programs versus traditional didactic programs have shown generally similar educational outcomes ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref37">1</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref38">15</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref39">18</reflink>]). Notably, although PBL-trained students may initially acquire fewer facts than their traditionally trained peers, they nevertheless tend to retain their acquired knowledge for a much longer period of time ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref40">16</reflink>]).</p> <p>Considerable evidence supports PBL's positive effects on the acquisition of clinical skills and clinical reasoning ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref41">1</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref42">15</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref43">43</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref44">48</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref45">53</reflink>]). PBL-style programs also produce higher long-term student and faculty satisfaction, more positive attitudes and opinions concerning the programs, increased class attendance, and elevated student mood as gauged by a variety of evaluation metrics ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref46">46</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref47">51</reflink>]).</p> <p>PBL-trained students obtain significantly higher scores on teaching faculty ratings of a range of competencies considered essential to professional development and practice in the health sciences, including humanism, teamwork, interpersonal skills, communication with patients or clients, psychosocial skills, and self-reflection ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref48">6</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref49">38</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref50">40</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref51">47</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref52">48</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref53">51</reflink>]).</p> <p>Important parallels exist between the gold standard training model used for evidence-based practice and for the trauma-informed practice described herein. Both stress the need to link coursework and field work, and both see PBL as the pedagogical approach most suited to producing social workers able to combine professional practice approaches that continually pose two questions: "What impact does trauma have in producing my client's problems?" and "What evidence do I have that this intervention will work best for this client in this situation?"</p> <p>This article describes a clinical elective course for the advanced-year MSW student that integrates the strong recommendations and promising developments within social work education and practice regarding evidence-based trauma education. It combines the guiding principles of trauma theory and PBL and serves as the foundational curriculum to be linked to training in an empirically supported treatment and its use in field placements. The course was first pilot-tested in 2009 by two schools of social work and offered again at both schools in 2010. Its initial dissemination to two other school of social work occurred during the 2009–2010 academic year. This article describes the course learning objectives, structure, and format and reports on its evaluation based on seven total offerings of the course by four different schools of social work.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-3">HISTORY OF COURSE DEVELOPMENT: THE CORE CURRICULUM ON CHILDHOOD TRAUMA</hd> <p>The course described here is an adaptation of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma (CCCT), currently under development by a large task force of trauma experts. The CCCT consists of case-based, instructor-facilitated modules that draw on PBL principles. The design of CCCT's conceptual framework supports both EBP and practice-based evidence ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref54">27</reflink>]). The primary framework consists of four integrated levels of conceptual understanding and analysis, including concepts, objectives, practice elements, and skills, which collectively rest on the current empirical evidence base. Only the Core Concepts portion of the CCCT is described here.</p> <p>The course used the original set of 12 core concepts as the basis for the course objectives and evaluation instrument. The Core Concepts act as a conceptual knowledge base that provides a trauma-informed rationale for specific intervention objectives and practice elements that practitioners use to guide their selection of and priorities for implementation of an evidence-based treatment with specific clients.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-4">THE CORE CONCEPTS</hd> <p></p> <ulist> <item> 1. Traumatic experiences are inherently complex;</item> <p></p> <item> 2. Trauma occurs within a broad context that includes children's personal characteristics, life experiences, and current circumstances;</item> <p></p> <item> 3. Trauma often generates secondary adversities, life changes, and distressing reminders in children's daily lives;</item> <p></p> <item> 4. Children can exhibit a wide range of reactions to trauma and loss;</item> <p></p> <item> 5. Danger and safety are core concerns in the lives of traumatized children;</item> <p></p> <item> 6. Traumatic experiences affect family and broader caregiving systems;</item> <p></p> <item> 7. Preexisting protective and promotive factors can reduce the adverse effects of trauma exposure across development;</item> <p></p> <item> 8. Trauma and posttraumatic adversities strongly influence development;</item> <p></p> <item> 9. Developmental neurobiology underlies children's reactions to traumatic experiences;</item> <p></p> <item> 10. Culture is closely interwoven with traumatic experiences, response, and recovery;</item> <p></p> <item> 11. Challenges in the social contract affect trauma response and recovery;</item> <p></p> <item> 12. Working with trauma can evoke distress in the provider.</item> </ulist> <p>Taken as a whole, the Core Concepts course creates a trauma paradigm: a lens through which to view and understand the overwhelming and often-enduring effects of severe adverse life experiences on children, adolescents, and their families. The concepts serve as guiding principles that highlight key understandings: the child's moment-to-moment experience and appraisal of a traumatic event's effect; the need to use transactional and developmentally informed perspectives to appreciate the full effect of traumatic experiences; the role and importance of culture; the contributions of past trauma; the issues regarding personal, familial, and community safety; and the systemic effect of trauma on the child's caretakers and service providers.</p> <p>Because clinical work with survivors of trauma often provokes strong reactions and may evoke personal experiences of loss and trauma in the social worker ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref55">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref56">21</reflink>]) the Core Concepts also emphasize proper self-care as a crucial part of ensuring that one's clients continue to receive quality care. The Core Concepts thereby emphasize understanding the lived-experience of trauma, the broader social context in which trauma occurs, and the effect of trauma on the child, the family, and the caregiving systems. Using the Core Concepts to guide assessment, case conceptualization, and intervention planning helps social work students to implement interventions based on a sound trauma-informed conceptual foundation and rationale ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref57">27</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-5">SOCIAL WORK ADAPTATION OF THE CCCT</hd> <p>The evolving CCCT curriculum served as the foundation for the collaborative design by two schools of social work of a course titled <emph>Core Concepts in Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents</emph> (referred to as Core Concepts course). Case-based learning modules that draw on PBL principles provide the delivery mechanism for the Core Concepts course. Its five cases represent each major developmental stage from preschool through adolescence. Each case reflects a highly realistic real-life setting, presents responses appropriate to the developmental age of the child, gives details of the trauma history or exposure, and attends to both the cultural context for the case and to preexisting promotive and protective factors. Information about developmental and family history helps students to make a differential diagnosis and practice making eco-systemic assessments as well as assigning psychiatric diagnoses. Because each case presents a different developmental period, type of trauma, sociocultural context, family structure, religiosity, and community system involvement, students are exposed to a diversity of traumatic events and their effects. Many of the cases provide students with an opportunity to learn about different cultures as well as the effect of current global events on U.S. populations who require social work intervention.</p> <p>The cases unfold in stages to simulate real-life clinical practice and foster the development of clinical judgment based on an ongoing process of formulating and testing hypotheses ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref58">36</reflink>]). An extensive facilitator guide provides suggestions for actively exploring and applying trauma principles in relation to each case. After each section is presented, the facilitator encourages students' systematic analysis of the case to identify important facts, formulate hunches and hypotheses, self-reflect and select appropriate learning issues, and plan next steps.</p> <p>The PBL approach fosters students' ability to generate clinical hypotheses, develop relevant clinical questions, search for evidence to validate or invalidate hypotheses, and appraise clinical facts and inferences. Case vignettes help students learn to formulate an intervention plan and evaluate various options for fidelity of implementation as well as to maximize client functioning. These activities directly parallel the definition of EBP as a process and not an end product ([<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref59">45</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-6">PILOT TEST OF THE CORE CONCEPTS COURSE</hd> <p>The two schools of social work first piloted the course in four different class offerings in 2009. Following this, a number of modifications were made to the course. The number of cases was reduced to five, readings were revised, course assignments were reworked, and the pre–posttests were modified. Then all the processes and procedures for teaching the course were incorporated in a faculty facilitator manual. The manual provides an introduction to the two major conceptual frameworks in the course—the core trauma concepts and PBL—and presents two different course formats: an intensive 5-day syllabus and a traditional 15-week syllabus, with readings for each case, and a number of detailed assignments.</p> <p>The manual included the five cases together with the core concepts identified as especially relevant to each; six to 10 handouts, each tailored to one section of the case (i.e., referral information, first contact, child interview); and a series of questions to help the facilitator guide both the student's large and small group discussions. Case length varied from 21 to 40 pages.</p> <p>The manual also guided a modified faculty learning collaborative organized by the first two authors during spring and summer 2010 for four new faculty members planning to teach the course in the 2010–2011 academic year. The learning collaborative consisted of six 60- to 90-minute teleconferences, whose discussions reviewed all the course's elements as well as the learning objectives for each individual case. New faculty teaching the course received immediate feedback on their teaching of classes as well as discussion and suggestions for future classes, as several of the calls occurred when they had begun teaching the course.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-7">COURSE FORMAT</hd> <p>Each school had the option to adopt the <emph>Core Concepts in the Treatment of Trauma With Children and Adolescents</emph> as either a one-semester elective or as a summer or intersession class because it could be implemented as either a 5-day intensive model or a 15-week traditional semester model. Each format prepares students for further specialized trauma-informed training in a field placement. The 5-day intensive 30-hour course typically meets 6 hours a day for 5 days. This format can be delivered in 1 week but has also been spread over a 2-week period or delivered over three weekends. The semester model meets once weekly for 15 two-hour sessions. The intensive model often fits within a school's regular summer school schedule.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-8">BASIC CLASS FORMAT</hd> <p>In both course models students are organized into small groups to explore the five cases. The faculty facilitator gives the students one section of the case at a time. Students discuss the case sections in small groups, guided by a series of four questions. They then come back together for large-group discussion, where they share their responses to the questions. They share their summarization of the facts, hypotheses and subjects that need more information to be gathered from the literature, and they plan next steps. A variety of classroom exercises provide opportunities to develop the richness of each case, identify and apply the Core Concepts, and have students develop assessment formulations and treatment steps. Each small group is expected to develop a critical question about the case that is of concern to them as the case unfolds. They are then responsible to research this question and report their discoveries at some point during the class. Relevant videos, as well as video demonstrations from the online TF-CBT course (<ulink href="http://tfcbt.musc.edu">http://tfcbt.musc.edu</ulink>), may be used in class to enrich learning. The faculty facilitator manual also presents specific recommendations for exercises to use with various cases.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-9">READINGS</hd> <p>Both models assign students required text readings combined with professional journal articles pertinent to the traumatic exposure experienced by the child, as a beginning resource for the students' self-directed learning. Each required textbook has a specific purpose and the required articles provided additional information about the developmental age and type of trauma in each case.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-10">IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COURSE</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0094614388-11">Managing Student Reactions to Classroom Material</hd> <p>Helping students to manage their reactions to the intense case material ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref60">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref61">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref62">37</reflink>]) was an important component of the course. The first class session for each model included discussion of the definition of vicarious trauma and provided students a framework to help them understand, recognize, and deal with its effects. Students were presented coping strategies to use in their practice (e.g., deep breathing, progressive relaxation, stretching) and in-class exercise generated strategies to use in the classroom as well. This exercise addressed three objectives: identifying self-care strategies, getting to know student colleagues, and learning about shared interests.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-12">Using the Core Concept as an Analytic Tool</hd> <p>Learning the meaning of each core concept and its use in understanding the trauma experience and its many effects constitutes a primary learning objective of the course. To achieve this objective, the faculty facilitator presents a brief summary explanation of each core concept in the first class, based on the full definitions on a complete list of the 12 core concepts that students receive in advance. During small-group discussion of case vignettes, students consult the core concepts and discuss the application of any they believe are immediately relevant. Having students then report their small group understands of the Core Concepts' application to the case material to their fellow class members enables students to practice the strategy of teaching others. Facilitators use PBL approaches to prompt further inquiry. Each core concept thus serves as a lens that brings particular facts into a meaningful focus.</p> <p>The strategy of using a particular core concept to spur case formulation, hypothesis building, further research, and intervention plans transforms the concepts into powerful analytic tools that help students to use trauma-informed thinking to organize case material, draw inferences from the facts, and formulate intervention objectives. The facilitator, however, needs to model this usage and to be consistent in referring to concepts in classroom activities.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-13">Assignments</hd> <p>To assure that students were adequately challenged but not overburdened, the number of written assignments was tailored to the time limits of each format. Assignments primarily involved active examination of the cases, development of a research question for further learning, and investigation of the question using empirical and theoretical literature. Small-group presentations provided an opportunity to work together to identify a question, conduct research, present findings to the class, and engage the class in discussion through focused questions developed by the group. As noted by [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref63">20</reflink>], students (and practitioners) are motivated to explore the research for the answer to clinical questions that are relevant in real time. By building time into the course for students to search for evidence to guide their understanding and treatment planning in a specific case, the relevance of the task of retrieving evidence-based knowledge becomes salient and useful.</p> <p>Another assignment consisted of individual reflection papers that had students identify a case-based question and then research the empirical and theoretical literature, apply their findings to their chosen case, and reflect in writing on their findings and the rationale for their interest in this question.</p> <p>All students were also required to complete the free online course "Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy" (<ulink href="http://tfcbt.musc.edu/">http://tfcbt.musc.edu/</ulink>) as a way to introduce them to an evidence-based intervention.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-14">EVALUATION</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0094614388-15">Research Questions</hd> <p>The evaluation was informed by two basic questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> 1. Does participation in the course increase students' self-confidence in working with traumatized children and adolescents?</item> <p></p> <item> 2. Is the PBL method favorably received by students?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0094614388-16">Sample</hd> <p>The course was offered seven times at four different schools of social work from January to August 2010. Specifically, it was offered four times at one school and once at each of the other three schools. This resulted in a sample of 148 students enrolled in the seven courses. Nearly all participants were female, and approximately two thirds identified themselves as White, followed by 15% who identified as Latino, and 10% who identified as Black or African American. The average age was 31.4 years, with an average of 1.8 years of professional work experience.</p> <p>Twenty-five percent of the students were in community-based settings and 20% were in outpatient mental health settings. The rest were split between hospital settings (16%), residential treatment (8%), child welfare (7%) school-based settings (7%), and in-patient psychiatric (3%) or other settings (10%). More than half of the students had 25% or less of their caseloads involving cases with trauma; however, at the same time, a third had over 75% of their caseloads involving clients with a trauma history.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-17">Evaluation Procedures</hd> <p>Each school's Institutional Review Board approved the evaluation protocol, which used a pre–post open-trial design. Each of the courses was offered using the intensive format. All schools collected data using an instrument collaboratively developed by the first author with the evaluation team at the two schools. The instrument gathers data on demographics, history of trauma training, experience working with trauma-exposed children and youth, perceived self-confidence in carrying out trauma-focused practices, and personal reactions to the course.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-18">Description of the Measure</hd> <p>The pretest was a 29-item questionnaire with three parts: Part I collected demographic data, information about student field placements, their assessment of their field instructor's knowledge of trauma, and their prior training in trauma. Part II incorporated a self-efficacy scale designed for the measure.</p> <p>The use of self-efficacy scales to measure student outcomes has become a fairly widely accepted method for evaluation in social work education ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref64">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref65">24</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref66">44</reflink>]). Most measures, like the one used in this study, have been designed for a particular purpose in a specific study. [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref67">9</reflink>] designed a self-report questionnaire for their study of student outcomes following a 2-day course; [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref68">22</reflink>]) designed a measure for an outcome study of self-efficacy in an advanced research curriculum, and [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref69">44</reflink>]) created a program-specific self-efficacy scale tailored to the objectives of a specific advanced MSW curriculum.</p> <p>The self-confidence measure used here consisted of 10 statements related to applying the 12 original CCCT Core Concepts (Core Concepts 1 and 4 were combined into one objective, and Core Concepts 2 and 7 were combined into one course objective). As with most self-efficacy scales reviewed above ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref70">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref71">22</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref72">44</reflink>]), the respondents were asked to assess their confidence. Students were asked to rate their understanding of a core concept using the question "I am confident in ... " on a 9-point scale ranging from 1 (<emph>not confident at all</emph>) to 5 (<emph>somewhat confident</emph>) to 9 (<emph>extremely confident</emph>). Internal consistency, assessed using Cronbach's alpha, was.96 at pretest and.93 at posttest. Part III asked open-ended questions about students' expectations for the course.</p> <p>The posttest was a 27-item questionnaire also divided into three parts. Part I asked students to rate their reaction to statements about the course structure and design on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = <emph>strongly disagree</emph> to 5 = <emph>strongly agree</emph>). Part II repeated the self-efficacy scale from the pretest, and Part III asked open-ended questions about students' experience with the course and any recommendations they had.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-19">Analysis</hd> <p>A paired <emph>t</emph>-test analysis was conducted on responses to the pre- and posttest self-efficacy scale. A descriptive analysis was conducted of participants' responses to course design and structure. Qualitative analysis of responses to a question about the format of the course was reviewed to explore for additional information about whether the PBL method was favorably received by students.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-20">RESULTS</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0094614388-21">Expectations for the Course</hd> <p>In general, participants' pretest course expectations tended to focus on improvement of their assessment and intervention skills. This was undoubtedly due in part to the title of the course, which included the word <emph>treatment</emph>, leading students to expect information about intervention, although the course actually focused on understanding the developmental and symptomatic effect of trauma and its implications for treatment planning. Many participants expected to increase their general trauma knowledge, and they were particularly interested in the interaction between culture and trauma.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-22">Course Experiences</hd> <p>Posttest ratings of the course design were consistently very positive. Participants found the casework, course materials, and online TF-CBT module to be extremely helpful in grasping trauma concepts and increasing knowledge. Many participants indicated that they would have liked to spend more time learning about trauma treatment and interventions.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-23">Impact of the Course</hd> <p>Students completed a 10-item pre- and posttest Self-Confidence Scale that assessed changes in their confidence levels during the course. The average confidence mean score on the pretest was 4.04 (<emph>SD</emph> = 1.59). At the posttest, the mean score increased to 7.42 (<emph>SD</emph> = 0.96), a statistically significant improvement (<emph>p</emph><.001). This indicated that participation in the course significantly increased students' confidence in their ability to work with traumatized children and adolescents (see Figure 1).</p> <p>Graph: FIGURE 1 Self-confidence means by item (N = 137) (color figure available online).</p> <p>The changes in two items were noteworthy. Item 8 refers to the confidence that participants had in developing a "framework for interventions that addresses the level of functioning of primary care-giving environments, including the parent/caregiver and/or family unit." Confidence levels increased from a mean score of 3.37 at pretest to a mean score of 7.14 at posttest on this item, reflecting a significant increase in understanding of the need to engage the family or primary caretaker as well as the child in intervention. Item 9, "Exploring how interventions with trauma-exposed children and adolescents impact the practitioner in working with these populations," also had a significant change between pretest mean score (<emph>M</emph> = 3.58) and posttest mean score (<emph>M</emph> = 6.98). This indicates that participants grasped conceptually how engaging traumatized clients in interventions could affect the worker.</p> <p>Item 2, which inquires about participant confidence levels associated with understanding the physiological changes that can occur in the brain as a result of trauma exposure, had the lowest mean score at pretest (<emph>M</emph> = 3.48) as well as at posttest (<emph>M</emph> = 6.54). This is likely due to the participants having a lower level of understanding about how trauma affects the brain and the complexities of the neurological interaction. This overall perceived deficiency in knowledge suggests the need to further strengthen content concerning the neurobiological effects of trauma exposure in future course offerings.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-24">Course Design and Structure</hd> <p>In part II of the posttest, students were asked to respond to statements about the design and structure of the course, using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = <emph>strongly disagree</emph>; 5 = <emph>strongly agree</emph>). Over 90% of the students reported that they "agreed" or "strongly agreed" with 6 out of the 10 statements specific to the format of PBL. They agreed that the course instruction encourages students' active engagement in and contribution to the learning process and that the flow of course content is presented in a consistent and solid manner. They thought that the learning process of the course increases students' ability to apply trauma treatment concepts to their work with children and adolescents, that course materials are appropriate, and that each session of the course provides concrete content (see Table 1 for responses to all 10 questions).</p> <p>TABLE 1 Satisfaction With Design of Course</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><td /><td>A</td><td>SA</td><td /></tr><tr><td>Course Design Satisfaction</td><td><italic>N</italic></td><td>%</td><td><italic>N</italic></td><td>%</td><td>Percent A or SA</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>1. A sequential flow of course content is presented in a consistent and solid manner.</td><td char=".">57</td><td char=".">(41)</td><td char=".">75</td><td char=".">(54)</td><td char=".">95</td></tr><tr><td>2. Length and timing of course content in each session is just right.</td><td char=".">63</td><td char=".">(45.3)</td><td char=".">33</td><td char=".">(23.7)</td><td char=".">69</td></tr><tr><td>3. Course content in each session is divided into manageable pieces.</td><td char=".">77</td><td char=".">(55.4)</td><td char=".">44</td><td char=".">(31.7)</td><td char=".">87.3</td></tr><tr><td>4. Each session of the course provides concrete content.</td><td char=".">56</td><td char=".">(40.3)</td><td char=".">70</td><td char=".">(50.4)</td><td char=".">90.7</td></tr><tr><td>5. Course activities flow in a strategic and helpful manner.</td><td char=".">59</td><td char=".">(42.8)</td><td char=".">66</td><td char=".">(47.8)</td><td char=".">90.4</td></tr><tr><td>6. Each session of the course provides concrete content.</td><td char=".">65</td><td char=".">(46.8)</td><td char=".">60</td><td char=".">(43.2)</td><td char=".">90</td></tr><tr><td>7. Course instruction encourages students' active engagement in and contribution to the learning process.</td><td char=".">40</td><td char=".">(28.8)</td><td char=".">96</td><td char=".">(69.1)</td><td char=".">97.9</td></tr><tr><td>8. The learning process of the course increases students' ability to apply trauma treatment concepts to their work with children and adolescents.</td><td char=".">35</td><td char=".">(25.2)</td><td char=".">94</td><td char=".">(67.6)</td><td char=".">92.8</td></tr><tr><td>9. Feedback on students' performance and validation of their learning are presented throughout the course.</td><td char=".">57</td><td char=".">(41.6)</td><td char=".">59</td><td char=".">(43.1)</td><td char=".">84.7</td></tr><tr><td>10. Course materials are appropriate.</td><td char=".">51</td><td char=".">(37)</td><td char=".">82</td><td char=".">(59.4)</td><td char=".">91.9</td></tr><tr><td>Totals<xref ref-type="fn" rid="TFN1001" /></td><td char=".">560</td><td char=".">(40.4)</td><td char=".">679</td><td char=".">(49)</td><td char=".">89.4</td></tr><tr><td><ext-link id="TFN1001" /><italic>Note.</italic> *Percentages calculated based on total responses.</td></tr><tr><td><ext-link id="TFN1002" />A = agree; SA = strongly agree.</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>In the response to the open-ended question, students reported the following in regard to the PBL method used in the course:</p> <p>I loved the experiential aspect of the course—working in groups on specific cases.</p> <p>Most valuable is the use of a step procedure, ABC etc. to help children & families process their traumatic experiences in a way that is constructive & supportive.</p> <p>The cases were extremely helpful in how they allowed us to speculate, [and] then learn information little by little.</p> <hd id="AN0094614388-25">DISCUSSION</hd> <p>This course's unique design and implementation builds on intensive cases developed through input from nationally known trauma experts. Its structure conveys developmentally based knowledge of trauma and trauma effects. The course uses a PBL approach based on adult learning principles shown to produce strong learning outcomes. The course methodology was tested across multiple course formats and found to be effective across all these formats. The modified learning collaborative for faculty new to the course served as a means of ensuring fidelity to its implementation in multiple classrooms and course formats. Evaluation of student knowledge and self-efficacy found that students reported increased self-confidence in working with traumatized children and adolescents. These gains were consistent across seven different offerings of the course, taught by six different instructors in four different schools of social work.</p> <p>Based on our collective observations in teaching this course, our use of PBL significantly enhanced students' engagement in this intensive and demanding clinical course. This manual-guided course based on best practices for teaching about trauma provided a common focus and language for a wide variety of faculty in multiple schools of social work.</p> <p>With respect to its format, research has shown that intensive courses have generally emerged as being as effective as—and often more effective—than traditional semester-long courses in terms of student achievement. [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref73">50</reflink>] reviewed the evaluation literature on intensive courses. Their review of 52 studies reported on student achievement as well as consumer satisfaction. They found that 26 studies reported a positive outcome for intensive courses compared with the traditional, longer course. In addition, 25 studies reported no difference between the intensive and more traditional course format, and one study found the longer course format to be more effective. Findings from another study ([<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref74">49</reflink>]) suggest that if high-quality attributes are present, then intensive courses are more powerful learning experiences than semester-long courses. In a number of studies, semester-long courses were perceived as discontinuous, leading to constant disruption in learning, which contributed to overall reduced effectiveness. Specifically, the level of intensity with which a specific case can be thoroughly examined was a limitation of the traditional 15-week format, as the discussions were diffused over the course of two or three class sessions, each separated by a weeklong interval.</p> <p>Limitations of this evaluation study include the lack of a comparison or control group and a reliance on self-report methodology, which did not include an assessment of student application of the knowledge in their clinical practice. The quantitative component of this evaluation relied heavily on student reports of self-confidence, which are susceptible to individual differences in how respondents interpret individual survey items ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref75">26</reflink>]) as well as potential response bias. Other evaluation strategies for assessing learning outcomes would be to include standardized measures of perceptions of student learning, learning motives, and strategies ([<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref76">52</reflink>]). In addition, assessment of student papers by different raters using a standard grading rubric would advance an understanding of the effect of the course. Student feedback indicates that although the course strongly emphasized teaching core concepts of trauma and its developmental effects, it did not emphasize treatment or intervention skills.</p> <p>Notwithstanding these limitations—which are reasonable given the early stage of development of the course—it is suggested that the collective experience as reported here can serve as a template for a trauma-informed educational model. Other specialized clinical practice courses may benefit in similar ways from the adoption of a PBL method of instruction paired with an intensive course format. Faculties of schools of social work might collaborate on developing similar kinds of cases that support advanced practice with particular social work populations or fields of practice. Because the content of the case material may be focused by design, particular-learning competencies for social work education may be programmed by including new or expanded components within cases. For example, cases may be developed that highlight how practice needs to "respond to contexts that shape practice" ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref77">11</reflink>], EPAS 2.1.9) by including different organizational settings such as nursing homes, schools, prisons, rehab centers, and emergency rooms; or "advance human rights and social and economic justice" (Council on Social Work Education, EPAS 2.1.5) by integrating policy environments and global contexts; or, "engage diversity and difference in practice" (Council on Social Work Education, EPAS 2.1.4) by including greater cultural, ethnic, and global content. The case format coupled with PBL learning, however, would need to remain central to the course format—an approach, we argue, that promotes engagement in learning, critical thinking, relevance to practice, and student self-confidence and sense of competency.</p> <ref id="AN0094614388-26"> <title> REFERENCES </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref37" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Albanese, M. A. and Mitchell, S.1993. Problem based learning: A review of literature on its outcomes and implementation issues. Academic Medicine, 68: 52–81. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref34" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Altshuler, S. and Bosch, L.2003. Problem-based learning in social work education. Journal of Teaching Social Work, 23: 201–215. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref11" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Black, T. G.2006. Teaching trauma without traumatizing: Principles of trauma treatment in the training of graduate counselors. Traumatology, 12(4): 266–271.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref60" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Black, T. G.2008. Teaching trauma without traumatizing: A pilot study of a graduate counseling psychology cohort. Traumatology, 14(3): 40–50.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" idref="ref15" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Bledsoe, S. E., Weissman, M. M., Mullen, E. J., Ponniah, K., Gameroff, M. J., Verdeli, H. and Wickramaratne, P.2007. Empirically supported psychotherapy in social work training programs: Does the definition matter?. Research in Social Work Practice, 17: 449–455. ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" idref="ref48" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> Block, S. D.1996).. Using problem-based learning to enhance the psychosocial competence of medical students. Academic Psychiatry, 20: 65–75.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" idref="ref16" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> Boitel, C., Farkas, K., Fromm, L. and Hokenstad, M. C.2009. Learning transfer principles in a comprehensive integration model. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 29: 400–417. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" idref="ref5" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> Bussey, M. C.2008. Trauma response and recovery certificate program: Preparing students for effective practice. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 28(1/2): 117–143.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib9" idref="ref64" type="bt">9</bibl> <bibtext> Carpenter, J., Patsios, D., Szilassy, E. and Hackett, S.2011. Outcomes of short course interprofessionalism education in parental mental illness and child protection: Self-efficacy, attitudes and knowledge. Social Work Education, 30: 195–206. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Chazin, R., Hanson, M., Cohen, C. S. and Grishayeva, I.2002. Sharing knowledge and skills: Learning from training school-based practitioners in Ukraine. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 22(3/4): 89–101. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Council on Social Work Education2008Educational policy and accreditation standards. Retrieved fromhttp://<ulink href="http://www.cswe.org/File.aspx?id=13780">www.cswe.org/File.aspx?id=13780</ulink> (<ulink href="http://www.cswe.org/File.aspx?id=13780">http://www.cswe.org/File.aspx?id=13780</ulink>)</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Courtois, C. A. and Gold, S. N.2009. The need for inclusion of psychological trauma in the professional curriculum: A call to action. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 1: 3–23. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Cunningham, M.2004. Teaching social workers about trauma: Reducing the risks of vicarious trauma in the classroom. Journal of Social Work Education, 40: 305–317.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dane, B.2002. Duty to inform: Preparing social work students to understand vicarious traumatization. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 22(3/4): 3–20.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Distelhorst, L. H., Dawson, E., Robbs, R. S. and Barrows, H. S.2005. Problem-based learning outcomes: The glass half-full. Academic Medicine, 80: 294–299. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dochy, F., Segers, M., Van den Bossche, P. and Gijbels, D.2003. Effects of problem-based learning: A meta analysis. Learning and Instruction, 13: 533–568. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dong, M., Anda, R., Felitti, V., Dube, S., Williamson, D., Thompson, T. and Giles, W.2004. The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Child Abuse and Neglect, 28: 771–784. ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Enarson, C. and Cariaga-Lo, L.2001. Influence of curriculum type on student performance in the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 and Step 2 exams: Problem-based learning vs. lecture-based curriculum. Medical Education, 35: 1050–1055. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., Edwards, V. and Marks, J.1998. Childhood trauma tied to adult illness. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 14: 245–258. ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Franklin, C.2007. Teaching evidence-based practice: Strategies of implementation: A response to Mullen et al. and Proctor. Research in Social Work Practice, 17: 592–602.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Harrison, R. L. and Westwood, M. J.2009. Preventing vicarious traumatization of mental health therapists: Identifying protective practices. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 46: 203–219. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Holden, G., Barker, K., Rosenberg, G. and Onghena, P.2007. Asssessing progress toward accreditation related objectives: Evidence regarding the use of self-efficacy as an outcome in the advanced concentration research curriculum. Research on Social Work Practice, 17: 456–465. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Holden, G., Meenaghan, T., Anastas, J. and Metrey, G.2001. Outcomes of social work education: The case for social work self-efficacy. Journal of Social Work Education, 38: 115–133. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Howard, M. O., Allen-Meares, P. and Ruffolo, M. C.2007. Teaching evidence-based practice: Strategies and pedagogical recommendations for schools of social work. Research on Social Work Practice, 17: 561–568.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Howard, M. O., Himle, J., Jenson, J. M. and Vaughn, M. G.2009. Revisioning social work clinical education: Recent developments in relation to evidence-based practice. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work Practice, 6: 256–273. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Karabenick, S. A., Michael, E., Friedel, J. M., Amnon, B. A., Blazevski, J., Bonney, C. R. and Kelly, K. K.2007. Cognitive processing of self-report items in educational research: Do they think what we mean?. Educational Psychologist, 42: 139–151. ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Layne, C. M., Ghosh-Ippen, C., Strand, V. C., Stuber, M., Abramovitz, R., Reyes, G. and Pynoos, R.2011. The Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma: A tool for training a trauma-informed workforce. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3: 243–252. ...doi:10.1037/a0025039</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Manual, J. I., Mullen, E. J., Fang, L. and Bledsoe, S. E.2009. Preparing social work practitioners to use evidence-based practice. Research in Social Work Practice, 19: 613–627. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> McKenzie-Mohr, S.2004. Creating space for radical trauma theory in generalist social work education. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 15: 45–55.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Miller, M.2001. Creating a safe frame for learning: Teaching about trauma and trauma treatment. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 21: 159–179.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Miller, M.2003. Working in the midst of unfolding trauma and traumatic loss: Training as a collective process of support. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 100: 7–25.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Moore, G. T., Block, S. D., Style, C. B. and Mitchell, R.1994. The influence of the new pathway curriculum on Harvard medical students. Academic Medicine, 69: 983–989. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Mullen, E. J., Bellamy, J. L., Bledsoe, S. E. and Francois, J. J.2007. Teaching evidence-based practice. Research in Social Work Practice, 17: 574–582. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Mullen, E. J., Bledsoe, S. E. and Bellamy, J. L.2008. Implementing evidence-based social work practice. Research in Social Work Practice, 18: 325–338.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Association of Social Workers. 1999. Code of ethics, Washington, DC: Author.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Nelson, P. D.2007. Striving for competence in the assessment of competence: Psychology's professional education and credentialing journey of public accountability. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 1: 3–12.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> O'Halloran, M. S. and O'Halloran, T.2001. Secondary traumatic stress in the classroom: Ameliorating stress in graduate students. Teaching of Psychology, 28: 92–97. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Peters, A. S., Greenberger-Rosovsky, R., Crowder, C., Block, S. D. and Moore, G. T.2000. Long-term outcomes of the new pathway program at Harvard medical school: A randomized controlled trial. Academic Medicine, 75: 470–479. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Plowright, D. and Watkins, M.2004. There are no problems to be solved, only inquiries to be made, in social work education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 41: 185–206&</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Prince, K. J. A. H., van Eijs, P. W. L. J., Boshuizen, H. P. A., van der Vleuten, C. P. M. and Scherpbier, A. J. J. A.2005. General competencies of problem-based learning (PBL) and non-PBL graduates. Medical Education, 39: 394–401.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Proctor, E. K.2007. Implementing evidence-based practice in social work education: Principles, strategies, and partnerships. Research on Social Work Practice, 17: 583–591.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Putnam, F.2006. The impact of trauma on child development. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 57: 1–11.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Richards, B. F., Ober, P., Cariaga-Lo, L., Camp, M. G. and Zaccaro, D. J.1996. Rating of students' performances in a third-year internal medicine clerkship: A comparison between problem-based and lecture-based curricula. Academic Medicine, 71: 187–189. Philip, J., McFarlane, M., ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Rishel, C. W. and Majewski, V.2009. Student gains in self-efficacy in an advanced MSW curriculum: A customized model for outcomes assessment. Journal of Social Work Education, 45: 365–383. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Sackett, D. L., Rosenberg, W. M. C., Gray, J. A. M., Haynes, R. B. and Richardson, W. S.1996. Evidence-based medicine: What it is and what it isn't. British Medical Journal, 312: 71–72&</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Savery, J. R.2006. Overview of problem-based learning: Definitions and distinctions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1): 9–20.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Schlett, C. L., Doll, H., Dahmen, J., Polacsek, O., Federkeil, G., Fischer, M. R. and Butzlaff, M.2010. Job requirements compared to medical school education: Differences between graduates from problem-based learning and conventional curricula. BMC Medical Education, 10: 1–8. ...</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Schmidt, H., Vermeulen, L. and Van der Molen, T.2006. Long-term effects of problem-based learning: A comparison of competencies acquired by graduates of a problem-based and a conventional medical school. Medical Education, 40: 562–567.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Scott, P.1993, November. "Paper presented at the Meeting of the North American Association of Summer Sessions". In A comparative study of students' learning experiences in intensive and semester-length courses and of the attitudes of high-quality intensive and semester courses learning experiencesPortland, OR</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Scott, P. A. and Conrad, C. F.1991. A critique of intensive courses and an agenda for research. Madison, WI: Division of Summer Sessions and Inter-college Programs. (ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED, 337&087)</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Vernon, D. T. and Blake, R. L.1993. Does problem-based learning work? A meta-analysis of evaluative research. Academic Medicine, 68: 550–563. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Wong, D. K. P. and Lam, D. O. B.2007. Problem-based learning in social work: A study of student learning outcomes. Research on Social Work Practice, 17: 55–65. &</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Yates, W. R. and Gerdes, T. T.1996. Problem based learning in consultation psychiatry. General Hospital Psychiatry, 18: 139–144. &</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By VirginiaC. Strand; Robert Abramovitz; ChristopherM. Layne; Howard Robinson and Ineke Way</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Virginia C. Strand is professor and co-director at Fordham University.</p> <p>Robert Abramovitz is distinguished lecturer at Hunter College.</p> <p>ChristopherM. Layne is program director at the University of California, Los Angeles.</p> <p>Howard Robinson is associate professor at Fordham University. Ineke Way is professor at Western Michigan University.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref40"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref45"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref54"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref56"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref66"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref73"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref74"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref75"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref77"></nolink>
Header DbId: eric
DbLabel: ERIC
An: EJ1029658
AccessLevel: 3
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Meeting the Critical Need for Trauma Education in Social Work: A Problem-Based Learning Approach
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Strand%2C+Virginia+C%2E%22">Strand, Virginia C.</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Abramovitz%2C+Robert%22">Abramovitz, Robert</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Layne%2C+Christopher+M%2E%22">Layne, Christopher M.</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Social+Work+Education%22"><i>Journal of Social Work Education</i></searchLink>. 2014 50(1):120-135.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 16
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2014
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Trauma%22">Trauma</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Course+Objectives%22">Course Objectives</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Counselor+Training%22">Counselor Training</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Work%22">Social Work</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Masters+Programs%22">Masters Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Graduate+Students%22">Graduate Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Advanced+Students%22">Advanced Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Adolescents%22">Adolescents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self+Efficacy%22">Self Efficacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+%28Sociological+Unit%29%22">Family (Sociological Unit)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+Methods%22">Teaching Methods</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Problem+Based+Learning%22">Problem Based Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Core+Curriculum%22">Core Curriculum</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Attitudes%22">Student Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Course+Descriptions%22">Course Descriptions</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+Restructuring%22">Cognitive Restructuring</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Behavior+Modification%22">Behavior Modification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Therapy%22">Therapy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pretests+Posttests%22">Pretests Posttests</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1080/10437797.2014.856235#.U6HfifldVPo
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1043-7797
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: There is a growing imperative to prepare MSW social work students for trauma-informed evidence-based practice. Given strong recommendations and promising developments within social work education and practice in this regard, a clinical elective for the advanced-year MSW student that combines the guiding principles of trauma theory and problem-based learning was created. This article describes the course objectives, structure, and format and reports on an evaluation based on 7 (total) offerings of the course by 4 different schools of social work. The course methodology was found to be effective in all schools in significantly increasing students' self-confidence in working with traumatized children, adolescents, and their families. Implications for social work education are discussed.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: Ref
  Label: Number of References
  Group: RefInfo
  Data: 53
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2014
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1029658
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1029658
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/10437797.2014.856235#.U6HfifldVPo
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 16
        StartPage: 120
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Trauma
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Course Objectives
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Counselor Training
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social Work
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Masters Programs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Graduate Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Advanced Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Adolescents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self Efficacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family (Sociological Unit)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teaching Methods
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Problem Based Learning
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Core Curriculum
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Course Descriptions
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognitive Restructuring
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Behavior Modification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Therapy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pretests Posttests
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Meeting the Critical Need for Trauma Education in Social Work: A Problem-Based Learning Approach
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Strand, Virginia C.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Abramovitz, Robert
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Layne, Christopher M.
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2014
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1043-7797
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 50
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Social Work Education
              Type: main
ResultId 1