Self-Efficacy Regarding Social Work Competencies

• Published in: Research on social work practice Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 594 - 606
• Main Authors: Holden, Gary, Barker, Kathleen, Kuppens, Sofie, Rosenberg, Gary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-09-2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Accreditation (Institutions); Certification; College Students; Competence; Content Validity; Educational programs; Higher Education; Measurement; Measures; Outcomes of Education; Pretests Posttests; Professional training; Quantitative psychology; Readability; Readability Formulas; Reproducibility; Research methodology; Self Efficacy; Social programs; Social Work; Social work education; Statistical Analysis; New York (New York); assessment; educational program accreditation; replicate; competency; self-efficacy; reliability; learning outcome; scale; higher education; validity; measurement
• ISSN: 1049-7315; 1552-7581
• DOI: 10.1177/1049731515586466

Purpose:
The need for psychometrically sound measurement approaches to social work educational outcomes assessment is increasing.
Method:
The research reported here describes an original and two replication studies of a new scale (N = 550) designed to assess an individual’s self-efficacy regarding social work competencies specified by the Council on Social Work Education as part of the accreditation of social work programs.
Results:
This new measure, the Self-Efficacy Regarding Social Work Competencies Scale (SERSWCS), generally performed in line with our expectations.
Discussion:
The SERSWCS is a measure that is based on substantial theoretical and empirical work, has preliminary evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the data it produces, can be used with large numbers of students in an efficient manner, is neither expensive or subject to user restrictions, and provides views of outcomes that have utility for pedagogical considerations at multiple curricular levels.