Columbia University School of Social Work
T7501 Clinical Practice Evaluation
Overview and Rationale
Building on principles of empirically-based social work, social scientific inquiry, and basic
research methodologies, this course will reinforce and extend understanding of a scientific,
analytic approach to building knowledge for strengthening practice and evaluating service
delivery. Students are expected to draw on previously acquired knowledge about theory, problem
formulation, measurement, and research design as they learn to formulate and analyze research
questions using methodologies relevant to clinical practice.
By the end of the course, students will possess:

Knowledge of the breadth of clinical case evaluation methods

Skill in use of information from other practitioners and researchers to inform clinical
practice and case evaluation

Competence in implementing an evaluation plan

Utilization of case evaluation findings to inform and receive feedback from stakeholders

Understanding and an ability to address additional contexts and issues that shape clinical
case evaluation
Learning Outcomes
In this course, students will learn to . . .
1. Articulate the differences between assessment, monitoring, evaluation, and evidence
gathering in determining the impact of social work interventions.
2. Identify strengths and limitations of evaluation methods for different client problems and
client systems.
3. Proficiently access multiple types of informational resources (e.g., computer-based
technologies, practice guidelines, meta-analyses, professional meetings, and other
colleagues).
4. Critically evaluate the internal/external validity of existing evidence.
5. Identify relevant clinical issues in cases and formulate researchable questions.
6. Operationalize relevant constructs in cases (e.g., client problems, goals, process) and
collect empirical data.
7. Describe fundamental measurement concepts.
8. Appropriately tailor ideal evaluation plans to accommodate and overcome barriers and
constraints.
9. Identify and use appropriate data analysis techniques to answer practice-relevant
questions.
10. Formulate clinical decisions based on conclusions drawn from evaluation results.
11. Identify potential connections to larger practice implications.
12. Communicate findings from assessment and evaluation to clients, colleagues and others
to advance mutual learning and decision making.
13. Demonstrate awareness and practice adherence to ethical standards of scientific inquiry,
including those in the NASW Code of Ethics and university/agency Institutional Review
Boards, especially with regard to the well-being of vulnerable and oppressed clients.
14. Demonstrate awareness of potential biases in evaluation methods with clients of varying
ethnic, age, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic, physical and/or mental ability
characteristics, and/or from high-risk, vulnerable and other disadvantaged groups.
Core Content Themes
Empirically-based social work as an ethical imperative
The act and process of using empirical data to inform, supplement, and drive social work
practice confers tremendous advantages in social work practitioners' efforts to uphold,
implement, and overtly demonstrate the ethical principles girding the profession. This
course will examine how the use of existing evidence-based knowledge, collection,
analysis, and presentation of clinical practice-based data allows the practitioner to
maximally fulfill the following ethical principles as listed in the NASW Code of Ethics:

Social workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social
problems.

Social workers challenge social injustice.

Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.

Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.

Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and
enhance their professional expertise.
Real-world applicability of clinical case evaluation methods
The scientific method is intended to generate the "strongest"—i.e., objective, impartial,
reproducible, and reflecting or accurately modeling the underlying causal relationships—
evidence and insight into course-relevant issues, such as "Is my practice effective?"
"Why does this intervention work?" and "How can I strengthen or improve my work with
this client [system]?" Nevertheless, resource availability, the complexities of
people/practitioners-in-environment, and the state of the current knowledge base all
impose a diverse and significant number of constraint upon the ability to implement the
most rigorous scientific methods in the pursuit of clinical evaluation and insight.
Furthermore, these constraints are highly variable over practitioners, setting, and time.
Altogether, future social work practitioners must be able to implement and tailor
evaluation methods to, at best, overcome these "real world" constraints or, at least,
identify and implement an evaluation method that maximizes the amount of insight
possible.
Conscientization: Social justice not just in the field, but also in the classroom
Work that enhances social justice involves the actively addressing inequities and
disparities in access to opportunity and resources. Given that social work practice seeks
to redress social injustices, combined with the design of this course as a parallel process
of clinical case evaluation methods to be employed in the field, it stands to reason that the
implementation of this course should avoid perpetration and propagation of the means of
dominance, control, and oppression. This means that course activities will seek to model
and hone professional skill that augments clients' input, self-determination, and
partnership in the social worker-client relationship. This will be accomplished primarily
via an "immersion" method whereby students will take on the role of social worker or
client and work together throughout a significant portion of the course.
Furthermore, informed by the perspective described in Freire's Pedagogy of the
Oppressed, this course seeks to implement—to the greatest extent possible while
recognizing inherent constraints—a teaching/learning method that is a collaborative
approach between students and instructor. Thus, many of specific class sessions will have
content, examples, assignments, and course expectations that are informed by
prior/current student input.
It should be noted that the anticipated increase in power and authority of students to
determine many of the specifics of class activities leads to a concomitant increase in
students' responsibility and accountability for demonstrating their learning and skills.