The Practice Skills Inventory (PSI) was developed with MSW students to measure the frequency with which social workers employ specific intervention strategies. Despite initial evidence of validity, reliability, and utility further validation is needed with more experienced social workers. The current study with 281 experienced MSW practitioners revealed three factors (Supportive, Therapeutic, and Case Management) very similar to three of the original four factors derived from the previous study. However, some differences did emerge including an additional Insight factor. These four factors constituted a more parsimonious solution (23 items) than the original scale and accounted for over 60% of the variance with good to excellent internal reliabilities. Comparisons with the original version are made as well as suggestions for future research.

The development of researchinstrumentsfor measuring social work practice skills hasbeen overlooked despite the overall growth of social work practice research. This article describes the development of an instrument to measure social work practice skills derived from both psychotherapy integration research and eclectic psychosocialmodels ofsocial work practice. Based on data collectedfrom 285 MSW interns who completed the Practice Skills Inventory. results demonstrated that four clear factors emerged encompassing therapeutic, supportive, treatmentplanning/evaluation. and case managementskills.Thefourfactors (totaling33 items) accountedfor over 50% of the variance and showed good to excellent internal consistency ratings. Theoreticaland methodologicalstrengthsand limitationsofthe scale are considered, as well as its potential implicationsfor social work practice and education. Recommendations for further validationofthe PracticeSkills Inventoryare suggested.

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