Social work field education in Vietnam: Challenges and recommendations for a better model

Given the rapid expansion in social work education, universities in Vietnam are facing tremendous challenges in organizing effective field practicum. This article explores the current field practicum models in Vietnam, its strengths, challenges and recommendations for enhancement. The study utilized a case-study approach in which focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted. The key strengths included diverse and comprehensive content, and enthusiasm and support from field supervisors and instructors. The key challenges were lack of qualified field supervisors, loose collaboration between universities and field agencies, and inadequate student assessment methods. Specific recommendations are presented that fit the contexts of Vietnam.

Faculty Assessments in a Military Medical Field Practicum: Rater Experience and Gender Do Not Appear to Influence Scoring

Introduction Any implicit and explicit biases that exist may alter our interpretation of people and events. Within the context of assessment, it is important to determine if biases exist and to decrease any existing biases, especially when rating student performance to provide meaningful, fair, and useful input. The purpose of this study was to determine if the experience and gender of faculty members contribute to their ratings of students in a military medical field practicum. This information is important for fair ratings of students. Three research questions were addressed: Were there differences between new versus experienced faculty raters? Were there differences in assessments provided by female and male faculty members? Did gender of faculty raters impact ratings of female and male students?. Materials and Methods This study examined trained faculty evaluators’ ratings of three cohorts of medical students during 2015–2017 during a medical field practicum. Female (n = 80) and male (n = 161) faculty and female (n = 158) and male (n = 311) students were included. Within this dataset, there were 469 students and 241 faculty resulting in 5,599 ratings for each of six outcome variables that relate to overall leader performance, leader competence, and leader communication. Descriptive statistics were computed for all variables for the first four observations of each student. Descriptive analyses were performed for evaluator experience status and gender differences by each of the six variables. A multivariate analyses of variance was performed to examine whether there were differences between gender of faculty and gender of students. Results Descriptive analyses of the experience status of faculty revealed no significant differences between means on any of the rating elements. Descriptive analyses of faculty gender revealed no significant differences between female and male faculty ratings of the students. The overall MANOVA analyses found no statistically significant difference between female and male students on the combined dependent variables of leader performance for any of the four observations. Conclusions The study revealed that there were no differences in ratings of student leader performance based on faculty experience. In addition, there were no differences in ratings of student leader performance based on faculty gender.

Community engagement: An intervention to improve awareness and identification of mental health services.

This report chronicles a part-time 14 month field practicum at Canadian Mental Health Association, Regina Branch. The document provides an overview of Asset Based, Empowerment Approach and Change Theory within the Community Engagement program and how they were applied as an intervention to increase access to primary mental health. There is also a discussion about the variety of presentations that I attended and participated in throughout the field practicum. An outline is provided about the professional development opportunities that strengthened my practice. I also reflect on the ethical issues and challenges I faced during my field practicum. Throughout the document I discuss ways in which I was able to achieve my learning goals in the field practicum.

Medical Student Leader Performance in an Applied Medical Field Practicum

Introduction Many medical schools in the United States are introducing leader and leadership curricula. However, there is a large gap regarding how to assess leader performance during undergraduate medical education. With the guidance of a conceptual framework, leadership assessment measures can be developed, learners can make expected improvements in performance over time, and assessment measures can be used in relevant, applied, medical teaching settings. Uniformed Services University (USU) medical students are educated to become healthcare leaders who can perform effectively in various settings. Medical students are assessed on multiple occasions for elements of leader performance during “Operation Bushmaster” – the capstone military medical field practicum event for fourth year medical students – by experienced faculty. A conceptual framework guides the assessment approach for leader performance during Bushmaster. The USU Leader and Leadership Education and Development program developed an assessment tool to measure student leader performance used in a military medical field practicum. The present paper examines whether: (1) leader performance can be measured at Bushmaster; (2) leader performance changed during Bushmaster; (3) leader performance elements are related to each other; and (4) overall leader performance is related to other medical academic performance. Materials and Methods Trained faculty assessed students’ leader performance. Data from three cohorts of USU medical students (N = 509) were collected. All data were collected, compiled, deidentified, and analyzed with approval from the USU Institutional Review Board (Protocol number: KM83XV). Descriptive statistics, repeated measures t-tests, trend analyses, and correlation analyses were performed. Results Data were available from 483/509 [95%] students. Results revealed that: (1) average leader performance was satisfactory; (2) overall leader performance and performance on each of the major elements of leader performance significantly improved over the course of Bushmaster; (3) major elements of leader performance were significantly correlated with each other and with overall leader performance; (4) leader performance was not correlated with students’ performance on the MCAT total score or USMLE Step exam scores. Conclusion With the guidance of a conceptual framework, the assessment tool was used to assess leader performance in a relevant, applied, medical teaching setting. The findings of this study indicate that leader performance can be measured. Additionally, leader performance appears to be a separate skillset from medical academic performance and both types of performance can be taught and developed. This was a retrospective correlation study and was conducted during a military medical field practicum at a single institution. Gathering additional validity evidence of the assessment tool is needed. With additional validity evidence, the assessment tool could be applied to other medical exercises in different settings and help with the assessment of leader performance beyond medical school.