To date, only a small number of articles have been written about the information literacy needs of social work students. This is a topic that needs to be addressed more among librarians because of the emergence of the evidence-based practice paradigm within the social work profession. Now more than ever, social work students need to know sophisticated techniques for searching and identifying high-quality research. The authors of this paper have attempted to start to address this need by conducting a small citation study in order to assess the information literacy needs of graduate level social work students at Boston College. The results of our study indicated that the students need instruction that emphasizes evidence-based searching skills. These skills include retrieving peer-reviewed articles and identifying research-based sources. We outline recommendations for incorporating evidence-based searching skills in instruction sessions. Kate Silfen, M.A.T., M.A., M.L.S.The library literature available on the information literacy needs of social work students is sparse. The authors of this paper were only able to retrieve a small number of journal articles that address this topic. This gap in the literature is surprising given the emergence of the evidencebased practice paradigm within the social work profession. Evidence-based social work practice requires sophisticated research skills; consequently, librarians have a potentially large role to play in teaching these skills. This research has been conducted to help fill the gap in the literature about the part that librarians can play in promoting evidence-based practice.The definition of evidence-based practice itself indicates that librarians have the potential to play a substantial role in helping students and faculty members develop their skills in this area. Evidence-based practice is defined as the use of "conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence" (Sackett et al. 1994, 1) for the care of patients. Obtaining the best evidence involves the formulation of a searchable question, locating relevant evidence, and critically appraising the literature (Howard et al. 2003). These are tasks that librarians have a long tradition of teaching to students and faculty members.In this paper, we review an assessment of the research skills of graduatelevel social work students who are taking a core course. Our assessment is based on a small study of the students' citations for a required research paper. We report on the results of the study and make recommendations for incorporating evidence-based research skills in future instruction sessions.
The Cash and Counseling Demonstration began as a 3-state social experiment to test the claims of members of the disability community that, if they had more control over their services, their lives would improve and costs would be no higher. The 2004 expansion to 12 states brings us closer to the tipping point when this option will be broadly available. The original demonstration was a controlled experiment with randomized assignment, supplemented by an ethnographic study and a process evaluation. Consumers managing flexible, individualized budgets were much more satisfied, had fewer unmet needs, and had comparable health outcomes. Access to service and supports was greatly improved. Consumer direction is increasingly accepted as a desirable option in home and community services.
This chapter illustrates the practice modality of client empowerment. It first provides an overview of the history of empowerment models in social work, grounding this modality in the context of practice theories. It then uses the Cash and Counseling project as a case study to illustrate various facets of empowerment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.