• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.61-91
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• 2005

This study aimed to explore empirically social work practice skills that are being used most frequently in a variety of social work settings in Korea. Out of 669 questionnaire sent, 361 were returned. Exploratory factor analysis revealed 7 underlying axes from 132 most frequently used practice skills. They were named as: casework skills, group work skills, family work skills, community work skills, volunteer managing skills, program development and evaluation skills, and agency managing skills. Second factor analysis explored underlying sub-factors from each of the seven axes. Researcher identified 42 principal skills that can represent the underlying sub-factors explored in the previous stage. Finally, research checked if the different work settings use different practice skill axes. Study results can be used to connect social work education settings and practice fields in Korea. There has been an argument that Korean social work education has been teaching improper practice skills to the to-be-social workers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.5-32
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• 2010

Although social work practice skills are one of the important components of social work practice, research on social work practice skills has been very scarce. It seems that the reason might be a lack of standardized instruments used to measure social work practice skills. The purpose of this study is to validate a Korean version of the Practice Skills Inventory(PSI) developed by O'Hare and colleagues. The PSI is the only instrument developed in the field of social work to measure the frequency of social work practice skills that social workers use. A total of 310 social workers working in medical or mental health field were participated in this study. A result of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Korean version of the PSI is composed of 4 factors like its english version. The Korean version of the PSI was also reliable and valid. Implications for social work research, practice and education are provided.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.337-362
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• 2009

This study investigated the relation between social worker's reflective thinking levels and the usage of social work practice skills. Dewey definded reflective thinking as active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief. And social work practice skills refer to those purposeful intervention activities, that are intended to alleviate client's distress, enhancing a client's coping abilities. Reflctive thinking levels consists of intensive reflection, reflection, understanding and habit action. The key of social work practice skills can be categorized into three major categories: supportive skills, therapeutic coping skills and case management skills. These categories were designed to apply to a diverse range of client populations. This paper proves that social work's reflective thinking ability and interactions with other workers have an effect on the intervention activities. In conclusion, this research indicates that if social works have a higher reflective thinking levels, they will creat practice siklls and social work practice knowledge.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.57-87
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to develop the first social work skills inventory in Korea. Based upon the literature review of social work skills, the examination of an existing scale, and the comments from professionals in this field, 57 preliminary items were developed. Preliminary items were evaluated with a total of 370 social workers who were working in various fields of social work in Seoul and surrounding areas. A series of exploratory factor analyses were conducted to find out the optimal structure of the scale. After deleting 30 items with low factor loadings or being cross-loaded, the scale is composed of five factors. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of the scale obtained by exploratory factor analysis. The first factor was named preparatory and assessing skills to be mostly used in the beginning phase of th social work process, the second factor was named change facilitating skills to be used to strengthen motivation to change, third factor was named ending and evaluating skills to be used to terminate the professional relationship and evaluate the outcome of the relationship, the fourth factor was named resource linking and utilizing skills to be used to utilize resources in order to solve clients' problems and the fifth factor was named ethical practice skills. Each component of the social work skills inventory is found to be reliable and valid. In sum, the social work skills inventory is an instrument encompassing basic skills necessary for social work process, skills for ethical social work practice, and skills necessary for utilizing environmental resources.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.85-108
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• 2009

The quickening pace of international migration in the last twenty years brought fundamental demographic and social changes to the Korean society. Increasing number of marriage-based immigrant families imposes new challenges on social work community; however, the social work community has not been equipped with necessary practice models, sets of skills and professionals with cultural competency. This study aims to explore an integrative framework of social work practice with this client group. Research foci include the profile of marriage-based immigrant families in Korea, available social services at the time, challenges and issues they face, the compatibility of the empowerment based social work practice, and micro/mezzo/macro level concerns that arise for the effective service provision. Challenges among marriage-based immigrant families are converged into personal/familial, community related, and larger social-cultural issues. Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social process to help people gain control over their lives; a process that fosters power in people, for use in their lives, their communities and in their society. Empowerment based social work practice can be the most competent framework for working with multi-cultural families considering their multi-faceted acculturation issues while they navigate thru Korean society. Issues of educating and training of culturally competent social workers are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.52
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• pp.89-115
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• 2003

While many social work studies has focused on the development of practice intervention and demonstration of the efficacy, little attention has been given to the way how the results can be disseminated and utilized in practice area. But attempts to bridge the research-practice gap empathize importance of dissemination and utilization including knowledge utilization, innovation diffusion, information dissemination, program replication, and technology transfer etc. In this recognition, this study that focused on the process after development of program tried to search and analyze the real disseminating process and utilization state with applying Growing-up Skills Program(GUSP) developed and disseminated by this researcher. For the purpose, theories and models for program diffusion were reviewed, and dissemination & utilization of GUSP was analyzed on the 'Herie & Martin's model' with retrospective perspectives. Through this tracer study, these were confirmed or founded as problems of GUSP in disseminating process : lack of specific strategy for the dissemination ; unplanned coping due to little preparation ; and unclear and insufficient understanding of the target system in the beginning stage of dissemination. And followings are suggested for the improvement of social work program dissemination & utilization in the field: to conduct diffusion process on the basis of a proper model; to consider integrative relationship between D&D and dissemination & utilization ; to endeavor for collecting feed back from the field ; and to reinforce social work education and study related to innovation diffusion. These results showed importance of dissemination & utilization in social work and utility of GUSP despite of several limitations. More concerns of dissemination & utilization are needed for the integration of research and practice in Korean social work.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.263-288
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• 2014

The goal of this research is to discover various cognitive types on social work practice by using Q methodology which explores subjectivities of human beings. The researchers selected 40 Q items among 293 Q populations from data through in-depth interviews of eight social workers and literature reviews, and the reliability was r=.816. Twenty-nine social workers sorted Q items and the obtained data was analysed by the QUANL program. The perception types were divided into three patterns and the eigen value was .5849. Three perception types on social workers' practices were 'relationship-centered(type 1)', 'change-centered(type 2)' and 'resource-centered(type 3)' practices. These types were different in perceptions on identification of relationship with clients, key characteristics, skills and strengths as a social worker. According to these results, the researchers offered some significant implications and suggested several following studies.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.235-255
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• 2010

The successful practicum should be based on the systematic supervision and the supervision will be provided by the cooperation and liason between school and field. This study intended to explore the perception of faculty field liasons about the contents of supervision. As a result of using the Q methodology, the percetion on supervison was categorized into three types : "focusing on attitude and mind of social worker", "focusing on knowledge and self-awareness" and "focusing on practice skills for intervention". According to these results, discussions and implications for social work education and practice were suggested.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.67 no.4
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• pp.127-152
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• 2015

This study aimed to implement the enhancement program for the social work practice competency for children of community child center workers and to evaluate the program's effects. For this purpose, the program was implemented for ten community child center workers five times for five weeks(once a week, 120 minutes per session). For the quantitative evaluation, a non-equivalent control group design among quasi-experimental designs was used, and for the qualitative evaluation, the written materials related with the program were collected and analyzed. The results of the quantitative evaluation revealed that the social work practice skills and worker-client relationship empowerment of the community child center workers who participated in the competency enhancement program were significantly improved. In the qualitative evaluation, the subjective experiences were presented, including the improvement of the worker's practice competency and the worker's awareness of the changes in the child, the recognition of the strong points and the points to be improved in the program. This study is expected to raise the expertise and effectiveness of community child center workers, and ultimately, to contribute to the healthy development and the improvement of the mental health of children by improving the social work practice competency of the workers in community child centers, which comprise the representative service delivery system for children in South Korea.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.82-93
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• 2016

This study attempts to identify the professional competency of local children's centers' workers, and examine their impact on case management performance. To achieve the purpose of this study, 189 children's centers' workers with 2 or more years of experiences in Busan and Gyeongnam areas participated in the research. The results showed that the professional skills and capabilities of workers have substantial impact on case management performance. Moreover, the study also proved that social work values have a moderating effect in the practice. This study suggested that for the purpose of improving the competency and professional practice in local children's centers, it is necessary to equip workers with specified education programs and effective law manuals.