Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2021
Publication Title
Clinical Social Work Journal
Abstract
This article reports a scoping review designed to synthesize current literature that used simulation as an investigative methodology (simulation-based research; SBR) in researching practice competencies in clinical social work. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, 24 articles were included in this scoping review. The majority of articles reported SBR studies conducted in Canada and the U.S. and were published in the last 10 years, signifying that this is a burgeoning area of research in clinical social work. Areas of clinical competencies included professional decision-making (33%), the role of cognition and emotion (21%), attending to culture and diversity (21%), and others, such as supervision skills (8%). Using qualitative (46%), quantitative (42%), and mixed methods (13%) in research design, more than half of the SBR studies reported in the selected articles used live actors (54%) to simulate a realistic practice situation for research. Selected articles also offered both benefits and limitations of SBR in social work. We offer suggestions for when to use SBR for research on clinical social work practice and strengthening a collaboration between clinicians and researchers in advancing practice-informed research.
Keywords
Clinical social work, Competence, Research methodology, Scoping review, Simulation, Social work practice
Volume
49
Issue
2
First Page
231
Last Page
243
DOI
10.1007/s10615-020-00772-x
ISSN
00911674
Recommended Citation
Asakura, Kenta; Gheorghe, Ruxandra M.; Borgen, Stephanie; Sewell, Karen; and MacDonald, Heather, "Using Simulation as an Investigative Methodology in Researching Competencies of Clinical Social Work Practice: A Scoping Review" (2021). School for Social Work: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ssw_facpubs/16
Comments
Archived as published. Open access paper.