Syllabus

Master of Social Work

SSW 526 – Integrating Clinical/Community Practice Frameworks

Credits - 3

Description

Integrating Clinical / Community Practice Frameworks (SSW 526) is a required course of students enrolled in the MSW/MSWO program as Advanced Standing. It is designed to introduce social work scholarship, values, and skills embedded in the UNE School of Social Work vision and mission that envision a world where social workers are at the forefront of advocating with individuals and communities for human dignity, social inclusion, and efforts to end inequalities, exploitation, and violence. Course content fully integrates clinical (micro) and community (macro) perspectives and practices with an emphasis on cultural, relational, and evidence-based competencies. This course serves as a bridge to the Concentration Year of the MSW program by preparing new students for the advanced curriculum.

Prerequisites

Admitted as Advanced Standing (SADV)

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

School of Social Work Program Outcomes:

Graduates of the UNE SSWO will demonstrate knowledge, skills, and leadership in the following:

1. Practice social inclusion to enable people, populations, and communities to fully participate in society, enhance human bonds in the context of cultural diversity and ensure improved quality of life and equitable resource distribution. EPAS Competencies 2 & 3
2. Engage in culturally-informed relationship building, being respectful of the complexity and diversity of contexts and circumstances. EPAS Competencies 3 & 6
3. Utilize theories of human behavior, social systems and social inclusion when offering interventions with people and their environments. EPAS Competency 8
4. Promote ethical reflection, critical consciousness and shared decision-making based in social work values and with consideration of the broader contexts of the world in which we live. EPAS Competency 1
5. Balance the roles of helpers, activists, and advocates through collaboration with communities to build healthy and sustainable resources. EPAS Competencies 2, 5, & 6
6. Engage as critical consumers and producers of research as it relates to assessment, intervention and evaluation of clinical and community practices. EPAS Competencies 4, 7, 8 & 9
7. Practice person-centered and collaborative community partnerships across diverse settings. EPAS Competency 6

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate self-reflective practice that includes awareness and integration of personal, professional, social, economic, political, and cultural forces that promote and/or impede social inclusion and compassionate client-centered practice. Program Outcome 4
2. Demonstrate collaborative relationships using empowering, relational, and organizational change theories for practice with client systems, colleagues, community partners, and organizations. Program Outcome 3
3. Identify the use of research findings to select and critically evaluate practice and service delivery with individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations which will create micro, mezzo and macro level intervention strategies. Program Outcome 6
4. Apply prevailing ideological concepts of class, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation that permeate social inclusion with individuals, groups, and communities. Program Outcome 1
5. Demonstrate an understanding of historical and contemporary social and economic inequities and how they impact individuals, families, populations, and communities. Program Outcome 1

Assignments

A variety of learning activities are designed to support the course objectives, facilitate different learning styles, and build a community of learners. Learning activities for each week include the following:

Readings and Multimedia:

Description: This course will use an array of readings and multimedia to present the important concepts. The readings and multimedia provide the foundation and background for student discussion threads and written assignments.

Discussions:

Description: An important learning method in this course is student participation and interaction in the discussion threads within each week. Students are expected to participate actively and in a respectful manner. Please refer to Course Policies about participation for a full discussion of expectations.

Participation in whole class and small group discussion unrelated to the “Worlds Apart” group-work will be graded weekly using the Participation Rubric. 

“Worlds Apart” Group Discussions – Due Weeks 2, 3, 5 and 7

Prior to beginning this course you were asked to ready the book Worlds Apart, Poverty and Politics in Rural America (2nd Edition), Duncan. C. (2015).  The communities highlighted in this book were first researched in 1999, and this second edition revisits each of them to see what, if anything, has changed.  The impact of social exclusion in these rural impoverished areas provide a foundation from which to examine elements of social exclusion and identify strategies to promote social inclusion.  In weeks 2, 3, and 5 one of the three communities highlighted in this book will be covered and students will be given three questions to reflect on and discuss in their small groups.  In week 7, each group will post a final summary including the 3 major themes of social exclusion identified; the group’s reaction and reflection of how social exclusion is perpetuated; suggestions of ways in which social workers can implement strategies to create a more just world; and to identify theories that support this type of social change.

Each week’s work devoted to this assignment is graded using the “Worlds Apart” Group Discussions Rubric.

How do I know who I am? Journal Assignment – Due Weeks 2, 4 and 6

The major writing assignment in this course is a three-part journal assignment titled “How do I know who I am?”, a critical and thoughtful examination of your awareness and understanding of yourself, the world, and “correspondences and contradictions” adapted from Mary Ellen Kondrat’s model for practitioner awareness (1999, pp. 465-466).

Each part of this assignment will be submitted as a separate entry into your course journal. Please tie in relevant course materials to strengthen the paper. This is mainly a self-report, but you must include, at a minimum, 2 scholarly, peer-reviewed references (per part) to support your work.

The grade for this assignment is found in a single row of your gradebook, despite the fact that it is comprised of 3 parts graded separately. As you turn in the parts for this journal assignment, you can refer to row in your gradebook to see how the most recent part has been graded, as well as receive feedback. The grade for this assignment will be calculated using the How do I know who I am? Rubric

Below are abbreviated directions for the assignment; more in-depth directions can be found in the course:

Part 1: “The World” – Due at the end of Week 2 (3 pages; 100 points)

The first part of this assignment will have you examine the world that you inhabit.

Part 2: “My World” – Due at the end of Week 4 (3 pages; 100 points)

The second part of this assignment will have you examine yourself.

Part 3: “Analysis of My World with Respect to The World” – Due at the end of Week 6 (5-6 pages; 200 points)

The third and final part of this assignment will have you integrate your analyses of “The World” and “My World” into an analysis of yourself in relation to the world around you. 

Grade Scale

Grade	Points Grade	Point Average (GPA)
A	94 – 100%	4.00
A-	90 – 93%	3.75
B+	87 – 89%	3.50
B	84 – 86%	3.00
B-	80 – 83%	2.75
C+	77 – 79%	2.50
C	74 – 76%	2.00
C-	70 – 73%	1.75
D	64 – 69%	1.00
F	00 – 63%	0.00