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Clinical Social Work, Science, and Doctoral Education: Schisms or Synergy?

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Abstract

Recent trends in social work have widened the schism between science and clinical social work. Ph.D. programs have become ever more oriented to grant-funded research and to preparing graduates for research-dominated careers. Academics have been developing a definition of a “science of social work” so the profession can claim its scientific base. The evidence-based practice movement and funders’ mandates to use evidence-supported practice techniques have created dilemmas for practitioners, whose views of these developments, positive and negative, are described. Some now argue for “practice-based research,” a model promoting practitioner involvement in research. Finally, rather than moving toward enhanced research and practice synergy in doctoral education, “practice doctorates” in social work are now being developed. Suggestions for enhancing connections between science and clinical social work are offered.

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Notes

  1. This discussion will be limited to what is happening in the United States as both clinical social work and doctoral education in social work are developing differently overseas, especially in low income nations.

  2. To keep the scope of this discussion manageable, continuing education, post-master’s training, and certifications will not be discussed in this paper. Nor will it address the social work doctoral programs offered by for-profit colleges and universities or any on-line only programs. All of these likely deserve further study.

  3. Full disclosure: My school of social work will begin offering a DSW program alongside our research-intensive Ph.D. program in the fall of 2015, and I have been part of the group planning for it.

  4. For a fuller understanding of the “science of social work” discussions, see the Brekke works cited and the reaction papers published in Research on Social Work Practice in 2013 and 2014; Anastas (2014) and Sommerfeld (2014) have discussed its relationship to social work practice in differing ways.

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Correspondence to Jeane W. Anastas.

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Anastas, J.W. Clinical Social Work, Science, and Doctoral Education: Schisms or Synergy?. Clin Soc Work J 43, 304–312 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-015-0534-5

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