Active or empathic listening is a basic social work practice skill. Past research involving this skill has focused primarily on the relationship between level of empathy and ultimate outcome. Little research has focused on the more immediate effects of this verbal procedure. Focusing on the short-term affective impact of two types of active listening, this article describes a series of replications of an analog experiment. The results, which replicate across experiments, across dependent measures, across client situations and affect, and across experimenters, suggest that differently worded active-listening responses may lead to different short-term client affective outcomes. The implications of these results for future social work research and practice are discussed

Spirituality is an essential aspect of a patient's health that can and should be integrated into routine health care. Despite recommendations of accrediting organizations such as the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Association of Professional Chaplains, there is little well defined curriculum focusing on interprofessional spiritual assessment. This article explores one program's use of an interprofessional approach in teaching spiritual assessment to students from medicine, social work, and chaplaincy. Learning objectives were adapted from the Association of American Medical Colleges Medical School Objectives Project. Workshop evaluations show that students can learn key concepts of spirituality and the basics of spiritual assessment while developing an understanding and respect for the role of chaplains, social workers, and physicians.