Dr. Lauren A Ricciardelli

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) makes it clear that accredited programs should be graduating students with the capacity to “engage in practice informed research and research informed practice.” However, this aspiration comes with few instructions, which has led to a number of concerning outcomes about the effectiveness and efficacy of research instruction. Therefore, a more thoughtful and detailed framework is needed to adequately address the current shortcomings with research instruction. This article proposes a competency-based approach to research instruction that helps to more effectively determine and develop the specific knowledge and skills needed at each educational level, and in turn, better prepare students for impactful social work practice.

The purpose of this introductory article is three-fold: (1) to share with the reader the inspiration for the present special issue; (2) to describe for the reader the array of articles published in this special issue and the organizing logic; and (3) to offer for the readers’ consideration a proposed conceptual framework for understanding the ethical role of Artificial Intelligence in the social work profession. In 2024, David Edmonds and a team of leading philosophers published AI Morality. Edmonds identified six emergent themes based on the authored chapters: autonomy; bias; responsibility; privacy and transparency; meaning; and, values and morals. We explore these six themes as a viable complement to the Belmont Report and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics for understanding categorical ethical concerns related to the use of AI in social work research, and in this way, evidence-based social work practice and broader society. We thematically grouped the corresponding relationships and used these groupings as an organizing framework: (1) autonomy, power/oppression, and informed consent; (2) bias, discrimination, and social justice; (3) responsibility, harm, and competence; (4) privacy, confidentiality, and transparency; (5) meaning, service, and social need; and, (6) values, morality, and ethical alignment. We identify ethical concerns across these six categories and make respective recommendations before offering final thoughts.

COVID-19 amplified existing stressors across the globe, with unique effects on college students. During this same time, higher education witnessed the proliferation of online technologies and the rise of third-party, private online program managers as universities and students pivoted to distance learning. Understanding U.S. social work students’ mental health and academic success needs have implications for the standards of the profession, program accreditation standards (e.g. implicit curriculum), and for the ethical recruitment and enrollment of students, including the design and facilitation of online social work degree programs. Aligned with the extant body of scholarly literature, the present program evaluation surveyed social work students who were enrolled in a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)-accredited graduate social work program in the United States in Fall 2023. The purpose of the program evaluation was to examine lines of difference and non-difference between social work students currently enrolled in the asynchronous online learning option (n = 82) and those who were enrolled in the face-to-face learning option (n = 10) through the analysis of closed-item and open response data. Quantitative and qualitative inquiries were conducted. Based on evaluation results and recommendations, implemented programmatic responses were shared.

Purpose: This study explores the alignment between themes identified by Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tools and those from a traditional, manual scoping review, focusing on generative AI’s role in streamlining time-intensive research processes
Materials and Methods: Thematic findings from a human-driven scoping review on peer support specialists in medical settings for opioid use disorder (OUD) were compared with outputs from NotebookLM, UTVERSE, and Gemini. Fifteen peer-reviewed articles were uploaded to each AI tool, and a standardized prompt directed the generative AI to identify themes using only the provided articles, which were then compared to the human-coded findings.
Results: The AI models identified between 53% and 80% of the themes found in the original manual analysis. While AI tools identified novel themes that could broaden the scope of analysis, they also generated inaccurate or misleading themes and overlooked others entirely.
Discussion: The variability in generative AI performance highlights its potential and limitations in thematic analysis. AI identified additional themes and misinterpreted or missed others. Human expert review remains necessary to validate the accuracy and relevance of generative AI, while addressing ethical considerations in alignment with the values of the social work profession.
Conclusion: A hybrid approach that combines generative AI with expert review has the potential to support current manual research approaches and establish a robust methodology. Continued evaluation, addressing limitations, and establishing best practices for human-AI collaboration and transparent reporting are crucial for the social work research field.

The rapid growth of online learning in higher education necessitates reevaluating accommodations for students with disabilities. This study aimed to examine the differences in accommodation requests and satisfaction between online and traditional learning environments for students with disabilities, identify barriers to accessing accommodations, and assess the impact of these accommodations on students' sense of belonging and academic engagement. A survey was developed to collect feedback from students with disabilities across various disciplines at a large public university in the United States. The study utilized quantitative and student first-person qualitative measures to capture comprehensive data on accommodation requests, barriers to access, satisfaction levels, and the relationship between accommodations and students' sense of belonging. Quantitative data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression. Students with disabilities studying on campus were approximately seven times more likely to seek accommodations than their online peers (OR = 0.14, p = .002). Additionally, students with disabilities generally expressed satisfaction with the accommodations received, though barriers such as a lack of awareness and administrative hurdles were common. Feeling a sense of belonging at the university was also significantly correlated with the likelihood of seeking accommodations. We invoke a critical disability framework to examine the implications of the study results. The study underscores higher education institutions' need to adopt more inclusive and accessible practices to support students with disabilities in online and traditional learning environments. Keywords: Inclusive education, online learning, disability accommodations, accessibility, digital divide.
La croissance rapide de l'apprentissage en ligne dans l'enseignement supérieur nécessite une réévaluation des aménagements pour les étudiants en situation de handicap. L'objectif de cette étude était d'examiner les différences de demandes d'aménagements et de satisfaction entre les environnements d'apprentissage en ligne et traditionnels pour les étudiants en situation de handicap, d'identifier les obstacles à l'accès aux aménagements et d'évaluer l'impact de ces aménagements sur le sentiment d'appartenance et l'engagement académique des étudiants. Une enquête a été élaborée afin de recueillir les commentaires des étudiants en situation de handicap de diverses disciplines dans une grande université publique américaine. L'étude a utilisé des mesures quantitatives et qualitatives à la première personne pour recueillir des données complètes sur les demandes d'aménagements, les obstacles à l'accès, les niveaux de satisfaction et le lien entre les aménagements et le sentiment d'appartenance des étudiants. Les données quantitatives ont été analysées par le khi-deux et la régression logistique. Les étudiants en situation de handicap étudiant sur le campus étaient environ sept fois plus susceptibles de demander des aménagements que leurs pairs en ligne (OR = 0,14, p = 0,002). De plus, les étudiants en situation de handicap se sont généralement déclarés satisfaits des aménagements reçus, bien que des obstacles tels que le manque de sensibilisation et les obstacles administratifs soient fréquents. Le sentiment d'appartenance à l'université était également significativement corrélé à la probabilité de demander des aménagements. Nous utilisons un cadre critique du handicap pour examiner les implications des résultats de l'étude. Celle-ci souligne la nécessité pour les établissements d'enseignement supérieur d'adopter des pratiques plus inclusives et accessibles pour soutenir les étudiants en situation de handicap, tant dans les environnements d'apprentissage en ligne que traditionnels.

The extensive adoption of social media (ie digital information and communications technology; artificial intelligence; machine learning; large language models) has implications for the social work profession's standards and educational policy. The purposes of this study were to describe US social work students' use, attitudes, and knowledge regarding social media and to compare these findings with a Fall 2019 national study. In Spring 2023, the authors sampled 160 universities with social work programs for the purpose of distributing a 56-item Qualtrics survey. Findings included: The concern over others' social media use versus self-use remains inverted; decreased agreement that data protection is important despite endorsing it as a civil/human rights issue; decreased endorsement of law enforcement's use of social media to assist in the apprehension of persons accused of committing a crime; decreased knowledge of racial bias in facial recognition technology; decreased confidence in the ability to identify disinformation; decreased endorsement that disinformation is a problem on social media; decreased knowledge that social media impact democratic processes; decreased knowledge of Net Neutrality; and, continued endorsement that social media belongs in the social work curriculum. The authors made recommendations for professional standards and educational policy, and government regulatory policy.

Between fall 2018 and spring 2023, the author conducted four survey studies on social work students' use, attitudes, and knowledge regarding social media: (1) a pilot study in fall 2018 (N = 57), (2) a comparative study in spring 2019 (N = 42), (3) a national survey study in fall 2019 (N = 430), and (4) a national replication survey study in spring 2023 (N = 287). The purpose of this article is to describe general observed trends across these four studies. Findings included persistent and pervasive use of social media, decreased knowledge of the impact of social media in undermining democratic processes, students' inverted concern for others' use of social media when compared with concern over their own use, diminished agreement with the importance of protecting personal data and treating data protection as a civil/human right, overall agreement that law enforcement should be able to use social media in the apprehension of people accused of committing a crime, decreased agreement that disinformation is a problem on social media, ambivalence toward social media's positive impact on society, and increased strong disagreement that students wish to delete their accounts but feel unable to do so. Recommendations are shared.

In July 2023, the Council of State Governments (CSG) hosted a legislative summit for policymakers to learn about the social work interstate compact (IC; CSG, 2023b). According to the CSG website, agenda items included a framework for social work regulation, detailed review of the compact, compact perspectives panel, and advocacy strategies. The national IC model legislation is the result of a partnership between the CSG, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). The stated goal of the proposed social work IC is to support the mobility of licensed social workers, thus addressing critical needs in various jurisdictions and supporting more effective service delivery. The compact proposes an additional pathway to licensure and promises to facilitate multistate practice among member states, thus reducing barriers to license portability (CSG, 2023b). However, the IC, as drafted in some state bills, also codifies the national exam (administered by the ASWB), which itself is a barrier for social work licensure—and a barrier that disparately impacts social work exam takers who are Black and African American, who are older, and/or for whom English is not the primary language (ASWB, 2022).

The release of the Association of Social Work Boards’ (ASWB) exam pass rate data in August 2022 marked a significant moment for the social work profession. This special edition highlights demographic-based disparities among exam-takers and catalyzes a crucial discourse on professional regulation and ethics. The Journal of Evidence Based Social Work, recognizing the timeliness and importance of this discussion, has dedicated this special issue to exploring the implications of these findings. The articles presented in this special edition offer a multifaceted examination of the challenges and potential solutions surrounding the ASWB exams. Articles range from empirical studies assessing measurement invariance and exploring institutional predictors of pass rates, to critical analyses of alternative licensure pathways and the lived experiences of African American social workers. Each piece contributes to a collective understanding and a comprehensive advocacy framework for addressing systemic inequities within social work licensure.

Purpose: The Association of Social Work Boards (2022a) released a report evidencing test-taker demographics as the strongest predictor of professional licensure exam pass-rates. The purpose of this study was to examine statistical predictors of social work professional licensure exam pass rate disparities between first-time Black/African American and White test-takers.
Materials and Methods: The study addressed the following research question: To what extent do institutional and state licensure characteristics predict race-based disparities in social work licensure exam pass rates? To answer this question, the authors built a data set in an Excel spreadsheet comprised of institutional and state licensure variables using publicly available and reliable sources.
Results: States requiring more clinical supervision hours and imposing higher licensure fees tended to report higher overall pass rates on the ASWB exam. Additionally, a notable correlation was found between states with a higher proportion of Black/African American residents and increased pass rates. Conversely, states that had established a larger number of licensure tiers typically saw lower overall pass rates. Furthermore, it was noted that schools located in the Southern U.S. demonstrated significantly lower ASWB pass rates compared to schools in other regions of the country.DiscussionRecommendations are made regarding future research efforts and professional licensure and regulation standards.
Conclusion: Pass rate disparities have implications for individual exam-takers and their families; for clients and constituencies; and for social work practice, research, ethics, and education.