Social Worker Integrated Care Competencies Scale (SWICCS): Assessing social worker clinical competencies for health care settings

Abstract

Integrating physical and behavioral health services has the potential to reduce health disparities and service inequities among persons most at risk. However, clinical social workers in integrated health settings must possess relevant knowledge and skills to provide quality care to diverse populations. The Social Worker Integrated Care Competency Scale (SWICCS), developed to complement the Integrated and Culturally Relevant Care (ICRC) field education curriculum, measures students' self-perceptions of knowledge and skills associated with providing behavioral health care. Three student cohorts (n=38) completed the SWICCS three times during an integrated care field practicum. Results indicated a statistically significant increase in student knowledge and skills at each time point, with a large effect size (r =-0.87). The SWICCS demonstrated utility in measuring and tracking social work student acquisition of knowledge and skills required for practice in integrated care environments.

Interdisciplinary Children’s Behavioral Health Workforce Development for Social Work and Nursing

“…We have evaluated the program so far largely based on student reports. We used a modified version of Davis’s Social Worker Integrated Care Competencies Scale (SWICCS) and Phillips Objective Structured Clinical examination (OSCE) Telehealth Survey [ 36 , 37 ]. The survey contains 48 items, using a rating scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high).…”

Workforce Development in Integrated Care: A Scoping Review

“…Most common were behavioural health clinicians specialising in mental health conditions, including psychologists, social workers and medical practitioners. Other groups were leaders [20,21], managers [21], primary care professionals [22], expert clinicians [23][24][25][26][27], healthcare students [5], medical graduates [23,28], physicians [29], social service providers in the community [26], health and social care workers or behavioural health providers [29][30][31][32] and educators and academics [23,20]. For example, one study described an integrated care training programme for social workers alongside community social service providers [26].…”

Social Work's Commitment and Leadership to Address Social Determinants of Health and Integrate Social Care into Health Care

“…As interprofessional education is increasingly required by health affairs accreditation standards, incorporating modules on SDOH and social care will embed this content in the education and training of all future health professionals . Encouragingly, in the past decade, social work programs nationwide have enhanced their preparation of Masters in Social Work students for employment in integrated health care settings (e.g., Davis et al, 2019;Putney et al, 2017;Rishel & Hartnett, 2015;Zerden et al, 2017). Increasing numbers of social work schools and programs have begun offering specialized training in health care social work and taken leadership in the nationwide development of interprofessional education curricula taught by and to multiple health professions (Jones & Phillips, 2016).…”