Please Share: COVID-19 Social Work Study

Please share with field directors and field students. We have all been affected by COVID 19. Here is an opportunity to share how your field practicum was affected by the shelter-in-place order. Thank you!

Invitation for Study

If you are a social work student who completed a field placement during a COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, you are invited to participate in a study of how your field placement experience was affected by that order.

Description of Study:  The goal of this study is to understand how the COVID 19 outbreak impacted social work students completing field placement during the pandemic. We are asking you to complete a survey, with an option to conduct an in-depth interview with the researchers via the zoom videoconferencing platform. The survey will take an average of 10-20 minutes to complete. There are no direct benefits for participating in this survey. Participation in this study is voluntary. Whether you choose to participate or not will have no impact on grades for any courses, placement evaluations, or any other benefit to which you are entitled. If you have any questions about this project, feel free to contact the Principal Investigator, Dr. Jennifer Withrow, at 918-269-1149, or jennfer.withrow@msj.edu

If you are interested in participating, please follow the link to the survey below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWKFieldandCOVID19

Study Details:

TITLE OF PROJECT: Understanding the Impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic on Social Work Field Placements: A Student’s Perspective

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

Name: Dr. Jennifer Withrow 

Email: Jennifer.Withrow@msj.edu

Phone number: 918-269-1149

IRB Institution: Mount St. Joseph University

IRB Protocol Number: S220-14

IRB contact: Dr. Tracy McDonough

IRB contact email: tracy.mcdonough@msj.edu

Consent Form posted in Survey Monkey:

DESCRIPTION OF STUDY:  The goal of this study is to understand how the COVID 19 outbreak impacted social work students completing field placement during the pandemic.

We are asking you to complete a survey regarding your field experience during the spring 2020 semester. The survey will take an average of 10-20 minutes to complete. There are no direct benefits for participating in this survey.

Electronic data will be secured in Dr. Jennifer Withrow’s password protected computer for seven years. As part of the survey your responses will be anonymous, and no IP addresses will be collected or associated with your responses. Downloaded data from Survey Monkey will be protected with SSL encryption. 

NOTE: Participation in this study is voluntary. Refusal to participate or discontinuation of participation will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. Participation in this study will not have any impact on your grades, courses, placement evaluations, or home institutions. No responses will be shared, in any form, with your home institution and/or field placement.

You consent to participate as a subject in this research investigation to be performed by or under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Withrow.  

You understand that you may withdraw from this research without prejudice at any time. You may skip questions that you do not wish to answer.

To participate in this study, you must be over the age of eighteen and enrolled in a field education course during the spring 2020 semester.

Finally, you understand that it is not possible to identify all of the potential risks in an experimental procedure, and I believe that reasonable safeguards have been taken to minimize both the known and the potential but unknown risks.  If you have any questions regarding this research or my participation in this research, you may contact the Principal Investigator listed above.

My Best,

Jennifer

/Users/withrowjennifer/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Outlook/Data/Library/Caches/Signatures/signature_208957837

Jennifer Withrow, Ed.D., MSW

Sociology & Social Work, Department Chair

Social Work, Director & Assistant Professor

Mount St. Joseph University

5701 Delhi Road | Cincinnati, OH 45233-1672

513-244-3269 | Jennifer.Withrow@msj.edu

Last Call! EKU Social Work Day 2021?

Dear Colleagues. We hope this email finds you well. Below is the email we forwarded earlier this month in effort to collect feedback regarding EKU Social Work Day 2020. This is our last solicitation for your response in the hopes that we can use your feedback to plan next year’s event. Please take time to complete this survey (https://forms.gle/rbFYj81AnLLr1a1w7) even if you did not attend EKU's Social Work Day this year. As we draw NASW Social Work Month 2020 to a close, know that we are working every day to make social works generations strong! Sincerely, EKU SWD Planning Committee

 
 

Message from KY Board of Social Work

Greetings All!

I hope this message finds you well!

I want to provide an update from the KY Board of Social Work. We have been aggressively working to provide some regulatory relief for licensees related to the current pandemic.

Pursuant to 61.823, specifically section five (5), I called an emergency meeting on 3.19.20 at 11:30 AM.

As some of you may know, the Governor released an Executive Order 2020-243 yesterday entitled State of Emergency Relating to Social Distancing. In response, we promulgated a memo and that memo has been signed by myself and J. Michael Brown, Secretary of the Executive Cabinet.

Attached you will find the memo. A summation is below:

  1. All deadlines related to the review of applications for completion or acceptance shall be suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

  2. Expiration dates of all currently held licenses under these sections shall be suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

  3. Until the state of emergency is lifted, and in order to meet the mandates of social distancing, “treating clinical social worker” for purposes of providing telehealth services under the provisions of this statute, shall include CSWs that are under board-approved supervision of an LCSW. This expanded definition will only apply until the state of emergency is lifted.

    NOTE: Please note that practitioners MUST ensure that they have the requisite skill to engage in telehealth.

4. The requirement that supervision occur face-to-face is suspended. Supervision, as required by the administrative regulation, may occur electronically as defined in 201 KAR 23:070 Section 1(2). This expanded definition will only apply until the state of emergency is lifted.

  1. The 240-day limit of temporary permits is suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

  2. The requirement that the three-hour training course on supervisory practice required for LCSW supervisors during each licensure period is suspended in that the deadline to complete such a course is suspended until the state of emergency is lifted. The requirement that the course be in person is also suspended until the state of emergency is lifted and the course may occur through electronic media or technology, including distance learning or teleconference courses, as long as the content remains the same as the previously approved training course, until the state of emergency is lifted.

  3. The requirement that a CSW be engaging in direct client care while engaging in supervision is suspended until the state of emergency is lifted. CSWs will be allowed to receive supervision whether or not seeing clients directly during the state of emergency.

  4. The requirement that electronic supervision be limited to 50% of all supervision hours, and only occur after the first 25 hours of supervision, is suspended until the state of emergency is lifted. Any excess electronic supervision hours acquired during the state of emergency will not be counted toward the restriction of electronic hours.

  5. Deadlines for obtaining continuing education course credits are hereby suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

  6. Any continuing education course approved to occur in-person may occur using electronic media or technology, including distance learning, online or teleconference courses, so long as the content remains the same as previously approved.

  7. Any deadlines for the approval or renewal of continuing education programs due from providers and sponsors are suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

  8. Any deadlines related to the scheduling of hearings before the board are suspended until the state of emergency is lifted.

YOU CAN NOW MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PROVISIONS, AS SET FORTH ABOVE.

Please know that we, as a Board, certainly want to ensure that licensees have the flexibility to provide adept practice to clients. As well, we have a mandate to ensure PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC. We hope that these provisions are helpful.

The work that you are doing is extremely important. Go forth, provide great services, and remember: SOCIAL WORK WAS BUILT FOR THIS!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know. Jay
Jay Miller, PhD
Chair, KY Board of Social Work

KASWE Conference Springs to Fall

As we all grapple with the constantly unfolding demands of the Covid-19 pandemic, rescheduling events and shifting calendars has become the norm. That is indeed the case with the Spring KASWE meeting. Due to campus closure for face to face instruction and gatherings beyond that of faculty meetings, the 2020 KASWE Spring Meeting hosted by Spalding University has been cancelled.

We are pleased to announce that Spalding will instead be hosting the Fall 2020 meeting on our campus on Friday, October 30, 2020 with a pre-conference offering on Thursday, October 29, 2020. Our focus will remain the same: higher education's role in dismantling institutional racism. We'll be expanding or scope to include preparation for the days following the November election. We're confirming presenters now and will share the completed slate of plenary speakers as well as break-out sessions once complete.

These are challenging days. But social work and social work educators are uniquely equipped to meet the needs of these times. We wish you grace, health and peace as you support your campuses and your communities in the days and weeks ahead.