Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
School of Social Work
The best research curriculum of today teaches social work students to evaluate service outcomes. The best curriculum of the future will teach students to proactively manage service outcomes. Effective social workers will understand how to "unpack" complex clinical, demographic, program and environmental contributions to good/poor outcomes; analyze trends; and redesign service and clinical processes to improve outcomes. This project uses Tools for Transformation funds to design and implement a sequence of graduate-level research courses that provide intensive training in outcomes management research. Learning will be structured around hands-on manipulation and analysis of service, cost, systems and outcome data. The course sequence culminates with a problem-focused capstone research project in which faculty and students address actual outcomes management problems in the field.
| Contact: |
Edwina Uehara
Associate Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean for Educational Initiatives eddi@u.washington.edu |
|
Jean Kruzich
Associate Professor of Social Work kruzichj@u.washington.edu |
|
| Allocation: | $71,039 |
| Date Funded: | March 1999 |
PROGRESS REPORT
Background:
The increasing competitive environment of human services requires an
unprecedented degree of accountability from professional social workers.
Government, community and private funders have moved toward
"outcomes-based" contracting and awards with health and human service
providers. Although the best MSW research curriculum of today teaches
students to evaluate service outcomes, the state-of-the-art curriculum in
the immediate future must teach students to proactively manage service
outcomes at all organizational levels and to provide students with the
ability to integrate outcomes into the routine flow of service delivery.
Currently, no social work programs nationally offer training adequate to
meet these demands. This Tools for Transformation project is dedicated to
create the nation's first social work curriculum in outcomes management
research.
Project Goal:
The project seeks to produce the best-trained social workers in outcomes
management research in the nation. This will be accomplished through the
development of a sequence of graduate courses in human services outcome
management research. Courses will be available to UW, MSW students as
well as other students in related professional schools.
Progress Report Summary
The Outcomes Management Research project has been underway since the
spring quarter of 1999. To date significant progress has been achieved
with regard to: (1) the conceptualization of an outcomes management
research framework; (2) the identification of core skills needed by
practitioners in managing an outcomes research effort; (3) the framing of
a sequence of courses and course content necessary to teach outcomes
management in the MSW curriculum; and (4) the recognition of a core set of
skills that will be required of faculty in teaching the outcomes
management curriculum.
The conceptual model combining outcomes and work processes used to drive both course refinement and development was created by a faculty task group. The framework synthesizes theory and practice from the areas of continuous quality improvement, organizational learning and institutional organizing.
Tools for Transformation
Funded Proposals
