Validation of the Practice Skills Inventory With Experienced Clinical Social Workers

Abstract

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.

Evaluating a Measure of Student Field Performance in Direct Service

“…Successful outcomes are determined by the degree to which students have achieved those goals or are applying the expected skills. O'Hare et al (1998) developed the Practice Skills Inventory (PSI) as a self-report or clinician-report measure that incorporates multiple indicators of social work practice ability. The PSI assesses how frequently practitioners use these identified skills.…”

“…The checklist also provides some opportunity for raters to measure students' critical thinking and ability to analyze their interactions with clients, because students were asked to critically reflect on and analyze their own skills and behaviors in their process recordings. However, the focus on interviewing skills ignores other dimensions of social work practice, such as relationship or alliance skills, which accounted for over 30% of the variance in the O'Hare et al (1998) study. The use of self-reported process recordings to provide evidence of students' practice is another difficulty with the testing of the checklist.…”

Toward New Approaches for Evaluating Student Field Performance: Tapping the Implicit Criteria Used by Experienced Field Instructors

“…However, due to the breadth of learning that occurs in the practicum and the diversity of practice challenges and learning opportunities that students encounter, this has simultaneously been the most difficult aspect of social workeducation to evaluate. Over the past 2 decades social work educators have sought to articulate outcomeobjectives and related criteria for assessing student field learning and practice competence and to establish the reliability and validity of evaluation measures (Bogo, Regehr, Hughes, Power, & Globerman, 2002;Dore, Epstein, & Herrerias, 1992;Koroloff, & Rhyne, 1989;OHare & Collins, 1997;OHare, Collins, & Walsh, 1998;Reid, Bailey-Dempsey, & Viggiana, 1996;Vourlekis, Bembry, Hall, & Rosenblum, 1996). Despite these efforts, field educators question whether current methods and measures of evaluating student competence fulfill the gatekeeping responsibilities of social work education programs (Alperin, 1996;Kilpatrick, Turner, & Holland, 1994;Raskin, 1994).…”

An Investigation of MSW Practitioners' Use and Efficacy of Differential Practice Skills: Do They Follow Evidence-Based Practices?

“…The Practice Skills Inventory (PSI), renamed the Psychosocial Intervention Scale (PSIS), is a 40-item instrument that measures the frequency with which practitioners use three major categories of intervention skills (O'Hare & Collins, 1997;O'Hare, Collins, & Walsh, 1998;O'Hare, Tran, & Collins, 2002). These categories include supportive skills (e.g., provide emotional support, increase self-confidence); coping skills (e.g., problemsolving skills and self-management), and case management (e.g., assess material resources and coordinate services).…”