The teaching and learning of communication skills for social work students: a realist synthesis protocol

Abstract

Background Good interpersonal communication is the cornerstone of social work practice, enhancing the outcomes of people in receipt of its services. Social workers’ communication skills are often identified as an area of concern. Communication skills can be developed and refined through training or education. The teaching and learning of communication skills is firmly embedded in many social work qualifying courses; however, considerable heterogeneity exists regarding such complex interventions and the theoretical underpinnings of which have not been made explicit. Realist synthesis can help explain how, why, for whom and in what circumstances an intervention might work, which is an important first step for helping educators to tailor courses to meet the needs of different learner groups and, where applicable, the employing agencies and government departments who fund them. Methods Realist synthesis is an interpretive, theory-driven and explanatory approach that aims to explain the interplay between the context, mechanisms and outcomes of interventions. This realist synthesis seeks to understand and explain to what extent, how, why, for whom and in what circumstances complex educational interventions aimed at teaching communication skills to social work students produces its effects. A five-step process will be followed iteratively. In step 1, the initial programme theory will be developed. Step 2 will involve searching for evidence. In step 3, selection and appraisal will take place. Step 4 requires data to be extracted and organised, and in step 5, data will be analysed and synthesised. Discussion The teaching and learning of communication skills in social work education is under theorised. The findings from this realist synthesis aim to help policymakers and educators make informed decisions about the design and delivery of complex educational interventions aimed at improving the communication skills of social work students. The realist synthesis will be conducted and reported in accordance with the RAMESES guidelines and standards. Systematic review registration The review is registered with the Open Science Framework. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BYHC7

Communication skills training for improving the communicative abilities of student social workers: A systematic review

“…Realist synthesis is an interpretive theory‐driven methodological approach to reviewing quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research evidence about complex social interventions to provide an explanatory analysis of how and why they work in particular contexts or settings. This research approach would support the theoretical development of the teaching and learning of communication skills in social work education, complementing that of this systematic review (Reith‐Hall, 2022).…”

Context of Saudi Arabia: Does Education Influence Effective Communication amongst Individuals?

“…The level of education was measured against the other two variables because it was constant given that the main object of the study is to determine the effect of education level on communication skills and, hence, employability. Some studies mentioned in the literature review found that enhanced communication skills can positively influence an individual's personality, academic achievement, and career outcome (Reith-Hall, 2022;Sabbah et al, 2020). The results show that the level of education has a significant association with monthly income and age group but not the work sector.…”

“…(2022) also found that relationships among college students influenced their academic outcomes greatly, especially when exchanging ideas and experiences. Moreover, enhanced communication skills can positively affect the student's personality and academic achievement (Reith-Hall, 2022).…”

Trabajo colaborativo en educación a distancia desde las vivencias de estudiantes universitarios

“…Estas habilidades suponen la superación de la individualidad y de acuerdo con Reith-Hall (2022) se configuran como la piedra angular de la práctica del trabajo colaborativo. Para Fatmaryanti et al, (2022) Ante este panorama, es evidente que el modelo educativo de EaD actual, no está comprometido con la promoción del aprendizaje a partir de las interacciones colaborativas de los estudiantes, así pues, no tiene normado con claridad cómo debe hacerse el trabajo coordinado entre pares, cómo se deben distribuir las tareas y roles, entre otros aspectos que garanticen la efectividad del trabajo colaborativo como estrategia didáctica (Acosta et al, 2020).…”