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Although there has been increased attention to religion and spirituality (RS) over the past few decades in social work, little is understood about the delivery of this content within the social work curriculum and social work educators' views and behaviors regarding training students on this area of practice. The current study attempts to address this by (a) describing the development and validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale for Educators (RSIPAS-EDU); (b) describing a national sample of 833 master of social work (MSW) educators' self-efficacy, attitudes, perceived feasibility, behaviors, and overall orientation toward training students to integrate clients' RS in practice; and (c) indicating MSW faculty charactertistics that predict their orientation toward this topic in social work education. The results suggest that the RSIPAS-EDU is reliable ([alpha]=0.96) and valid overall and across the four subscales, and that while MSW faculty indicate high levels of self-efficacy, positive attitudes, and relatively few barriers, fewer reported engagement with training students to integrate clients' RS. Further, the three predictors of their overall RSIPAS-EDU score included intrinsic religiosity, prior training (course or continuing education), and knowledge of empirically supported interventions that integrate clients' RS. Implications for social work education and future studies are discussed.

Although there has been increased attention to religion and spirituality (RS) in social work and related helping professions over the last few decades, less attention has been given to whether, where, and how RS content is delivered within Master of Social Work (MSW) programs' implicit and explicit curricula. The present study included the results from 781 full-time MSW faculty surveyed across the United States to better understand (a) how RS is integrated within the implicit curriculum at the programmatic level, (b) how RS is integrated within the explicit curriculum through a course offering and content infusion, and (c) how important faculty consider integrating RS to be across the Council on Social Work Education's nine core competencies. The overall results suggest most faculty consider their MSW program to be respectful and sensitive toward RS, cover a majority of the RS topics within their primary area of teaching (although to varying degrees), and consider RS integration to be important across the nine competencies. However, there are distinct topics related to RS in social work education that may benefit from more intentional integration. Considerations and implications for MSW faculty and programs are discussed along with recommendations for future research.

The role of religion and spirituality within social work education has varied throughout the profession's history, with recent research calling for increased attention to this area of diversity. In response, the Council on Social Work Education hosted and sponsored the 2021 Summit for Critical Conversations on Religion, Faith, and Spirituality in Social Work Education and Practice, with each of the coauthors serving as presenters and facilitators. This article presents the Summit's main insights regarding the history of the profession, explicit and implicit curricula, faculty development, and implications. This article also explains the planning that led up to the summit and subsequent related activity. The authors provide suggestions and resources to support social work faculty in teaching about religion and spirituality.

This article describes a national survey of program directors in December 2017 at 257 master of social work programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education regarding the inclusion of religion and spirituality (RS) content in their curricula. A total of 104 MSW programs responded, yielding a 40.5% response rate. Of the 98 programs indicating whether their program offers a specific course on RS, 36 (36.7%) reportedly offer a RS course. Furthermore, RS content was often infused across the curricula, with the most popular content areas being human behavior and the social environment, clinical practice courses, and the field seminar. Implications and recommendations to help support MSW program administrators incorporate RS content into their curriculum are discussed.

Despite practice guidelines for multiculturally competent care, including spiritual/religious diversity, most mental health graduate training programs do not formally address spiritual/religious competencies. Thus, we enhanced the Spiritual Competency Training in Mental Health (SCT-MH) course curriculum to train graduate students in foundational attitudes, knowledge, and skills for addressing clients' spirituality and/or religion (S/R). The hybrid (online and in-person) SCT-MH course curriculum was integrated into existing required graduate clinical courses (replacing 15% of a course's curriculum) and taught to 309 students by 20 instructors in 20 different graduate training programs across counseling, psychology, and social work disciplines. Using a multiple baseline waitlist control design in which students served as their own controls, students completed validated assessments at three timepoints evaluating their spiritual/religious competencies for understanding the intersection between S/R and mental health. We also collected qualitative data from the students to evaluate acceptability of the content and format of the training program. Students' scores on all seven measures of spiritual/religious competencies had a statistically significant positive increase after engaging with the SCT-MH curriculum compared to the control period. At the end of the course, 97% of the students envisioned using spiritually integrated therapy techniques with their clients at least some of the time, 92% or more rated the materials as helpful and relevant, and 96% were satisfied with the training modules. Results demonstrate that dedicating a small (i.e., 6 hours of class time; 10 hours outside class time) but intentional amount of course time to teaching spiritual/religious competencies increases students' attitudes, knowledge, and skills for attending to clients' S/R in clinical practice. The SCT-MH hybrid course content is freely available to all graduate programs on our website. https://www.spiritualandreligiouscompetenciesproject.com/resources/sct-mh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale for Educators (RSIPAS-EDU) with a diverse sample of faculty in social work, counseling, marriage and family therapy, and psychology. Full-time faculty at accredited graduate schools across disciplines were invited to participate in an online survey that included the RSIPAS-EDU, and 1,742 completed it. Results support the RSIPAS-EDU as a reliable and valid tool to assess mental health educators’ self-efficacy, attitudes, perceived feasibility, behaviors, and overall orientation toward training students to integrate clients’ religion/spirituality in treatment, and identify faculty development needs. Implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the results of a cross-sectional survey of current mental health clients' religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as how clients perceive such practices as influencing their mental health. A total of 989 self-identified mental health clients across the United States completed an anonymous online survey in 2018. This survey included several items and instruments to measure clients' religious affiliation, religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, and a new set of items to assess the degree to which clients perceive their religious/spiritual practices impacting their mental health. The results of descriptive, correlation, and chi-square analyses indicate religion/spirituality (RS) play a nuanced and complex role in most clients' lives, with a majority reporting positive views related to their RS and indicating they consider their religious/spiritual practices to be helpful when it comes to their mental health. Further, there are several noteworthy similarities and differences between mental health clients' religious/spiritual beliefs and practices as compared with those of the general U.S. population during 2018 as well as a national sample of licensed clinical social workers in 2013. Based on these findings, implications and considerations are discussed for social work practitioners serving mental health clients, and for educators training the next generation of social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article describes the validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Process Assessment Scale (RSIPAS) across five helping professions. The RSIPAS was originally developed to measure clinical social workers' self-efficacy, attitudes, perceived feasibility, behaviors, and overall orientation toward integrating clients' religion and spirituality in practice. Method: The current study examines the internal consistency and criterion, discriminant, convergent, and factorial validity of this instrument with a sample of clinical social workers, psychologists, nurses, counselors, and marriage and family therapists in Texas (N = 550). Results: Findings support the reliability (a = 0.95) and various forms of validity, with an improved fit in the factor structure among this more diverse sample. Conclusions: The RSIPAS may be used among these five helping professions to identify training needs or evaluate training efforts related to the integration of clients' religious or spiritual beliefs in mental and behavioral health treatment.

This article describes the assessment of accredited or in-candidacy master of social work programs' inclusion of a course on religion and spirituality (RS) in the United States. In June 2016, of the 257 eligible programs, 78 (30.4%) indicated they offer at least one required or elective course on RS in social work, either in or outside the department. A content analysis of the 90 available course descriptions specific to RS in social work indicated religious or spiritual traditions and diversity, social work ethics, and spiritually sensitive practice were common topics. Twenty syllabi were reviewed, and a content analysis on their required readings and assignments was also conducted. Implications and future steps for social work educators and the profession to consider are included.

This article describes a national sample of social work field instructors' responses to a cross-sectional survey of social workers' orientation toward integrating clients' religion and spirituality into practice and compares their responses with those of nonfield instructors. Four hundred sixty-nine social workers, including 69 MSW field instructors, anonymously responded to an online version of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale. Field instructors reported high levels of self-efficacy, positive attitudes, and few barriers to integrating clients' religion and spirituality, yet fewer reported engaging in behaviors related to this area of practice. Compared with nonfield instructors, few differences emerged across items; however, field instructors reported higher behavior subscale scores, compared with nonfield instructors. Implications and future considerations for social work field education are discussed.

There is growing recognition that integrating clients' religion and spirituality (RS) in mental health practice can contribute to positive outcomes. Given that intrinsic religiosity predicts faculty attitudes/behaviors regarding training students on such integration within social work education, it is worth understanding their RS beliefs and practices. Thus, our current national study describes the RS beliefs and practices of 807 MSW faculty in accredited programs. Interestingly, faculty consider RS to be important within their lives, are frequently involved in RS activities, and tend to be more religiously diverse than the general population. Implications for training and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study assessed the feasibility of virtual reality (VR) exposure as an assessment and treatment modality for youth with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Methods: Forty-one adolescents, 20 of which were identified as having SAD, were recruited from a community sample. Youth with and without SAD were exposed to two social virtual environments--party and public speaking--and two neutral virtual environments. Results: All youth reported significantly higher ratings on the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) during the party and public speaking scenarios compared to the two neutral environments, while youth with SAD reported significantly higher SUDS in the public speaking and party environments than those without SAD. Youth also demonstrated acceptable levels of presence and immersion in the VR environments. Discussion: VR exposure treatment appears to be feasible for youth with SAD, highlighting the need for further research on its development.

Objective: This article describes the development and validation of the Religious/Spiritually Integrated Practice Assessment Scale (RSIPAS). The RSIPAS is designed to assess social work practitioners' self-efficacy, attitudes, behaviors, and perceived feasibility concerning the assessment or integration of clients' religious and spiritual beliefs in clinical practice. Methods: After establishing content validity of the RSIPAS with a group of nationally known experts in the area of religion/spirituality and behavioral health, a national sample of master's social workers (N = 482) was randomly selected to assess the scale's internal consistency, criterion validity, discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Results: Findings support the scale's reliability (a = 0.95), criterion validity, discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Conclusions: The RSIPAS may be a useful instrument for elucidating current views and training needs among social work practitioners or to evaluate the outcomes of training or educational programs that provide content on religion and spirituality in the practice context.

This article presents the results of a cross-sectional study of social work field instructors' views of and implementation of the evidence-based practice (EBP) process and compares their responses with non-field instructors. A total of 688 National Association of Social Workers/Texas members (107 of which were field instructors) anonymously responded to an online administration of the Evidence-Based Practice Process Assessment Scale-Short. The results suggest generally positive attitudes among field instructors and high levels of familiarity but lower levels of perceived feasibility and engagement in the EBP process. In addition, field instructors and non-field instructors did not differ significantly across the 4 subscales or overall orientation toward the EBP process. Implications and future steps for social work education are discussed.

Purpose: Little is known concerning the way that Licensed Masters-Level social workers are evaluating outcomes. Methods: Licensed providers (n = 111) completed a mixed-methods web-based survey regarding ways they evaluate practice outcomes. Content analysis was used to identify ways in which social workers reported evaluating practice outcomes. Results: Evaluation methods identified were (1) not consistently evaluating client outcomes, (2) completion of follow-up appointments, (3) clinical judgment/completion of treatment plan, (4) satisfaction surveys, (5) client-reported symptom remission, (6) judgment of key informants, and (7) standardized objective measures. Objective evaluation methods were used most by individuals reporting frequent outcome evaluation, those reporting less frequent outcome evaluation used client self-report or relied on feedback from key informants to gauge client's progress. Frequency of outcome evaluation was inversely related to perceived difficulty of evaluating outcomes. Discussion: Social workers frequently rely on non-standardized, subjective evaluation methods. More research in this area is currently indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, researchers have focused considerable attention on religion, spirituality, and faith (RSF) in social work. However, most of this research has been focused on the RSF of clients rather than on RSF of social workers. This study used the Social Worker's Integration of their Faith - Christian (SWIF-C; Oxhandler et al., 2019) to explore efforts by NACSW members (n = 486) to integrate their Christian faith and social work. Overall, participants reported high levels of faith and social work integration--with both faith and social work influencing the other--and also noted some experience of conflict in their effort to integrate their faith and social work. With a goal of developing sustained ethical and competent professional practice, the paper concludes with recommendations for helping students and supervisees integrate their own faith and social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have demonstrated that social workers' intrinsic religiosity is the largest predictor of whether they integrate clients' religion/spirituality in practice. However, to date, no instrument has been developed to begin to understand the complex relationship between how a social worker's faith impacts their social work practice and vice versa, especially among social workers who self-identify as Christian. Thus, this paper describes the development of the Social Worker's Integration of their Faith - Christian (SWIF-C) scale to explore the following: 1) Does the SWIF-C have content and criterion validity? 2) Can the SWIF-C be condensed into fewer subscales to explain factors related to practitioners' integration of their own religion, spirituality, and faith (RSF) into practice? The results indicated the SWIF-C is reliable and an exploratory factor analysis resulted in four subscales, including the: 1) impact of social work on one's faith, 2) impact of faith on one's social work practice, 3) impact of faith on one's social work identity, and 4) conflict between one's faith and social work. Based on these findings, implications and recommendations for social work education and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]