MSW607 Generalist Practice II: Groups and Large (3 cr.)

Prerequisite(s): MSW605  
This course provides the foundation for social work practice with groups, organizations, and communities as vehicles of change to promote individual and community well-being. Students learn the principles and processes of group work, group facilitation and leadership skills, and strategies to apply group work principles toward collaboratively identified outcomes. Utilizing frameworks such as ecosystemic theory and models of collective action, students critically reflect on the ethical use of self as an essential resource to engage and sustain participatory collaborative action within and among diverse constituencies.

Upon completion of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:

1. Identify standards of the NASW Code of Ethics and relevant laws and regulations that promote or impinge upon participatory action. (G1a)
2. Examine how group facilitation and leadership skills are used to engage, support, and sustain varied forms of group work, including participatory collaborative action, among diverse stakeholders. (G1b)(G1g)(G2c)
3. Analyze the relationship between the profession’s commitment to democratic participation in group decision making and one’s developing professional social work identity. (G1c)(G1g)
4. Summarize information on the work of groups actively responding to specific economic, social, racial, and cultural factors that affect community well-being. (G3a)
5. Propose and comparatively evaluate strategies by which a group, organization, or community can advocate for policy or practice change to promote human rights and social justice. (G3b)(G2c)(G9c)
6. Produce clear, coherent, accurate, and inclusive oral and written communication about the processes and outcomes of group work for internal and external audiences. (G6d)(G9c)(G1F)
7. Demonstrate appreciative curiosity to understand how interpersonal dynamics and contextual factors may strengthen and potentially threaten group cohesion and efficacy. (G6e)(G2c)
8. Identify, collect, and present relevant information to support the work of groups, organizations, or communities in establishing priorities for action. (G7a, G7b)(G1g)
9. Articulate the unifying values, goals, and expectations of the members of a group, organization, or community to balance self-determination and interdependence in sociocultural context. (G7d, G7e)
10. Explain how the contribution of professional social work knowledge or experience can enhance capacities of group members or the group as a whole to achieve its goals. (G8a)(G8e)
11. Critique the range of strategies that may be required to negotiate, mediate, and advocate between group members and on behalf of a group’s articulated goals. (G8d)(G8e)
12. Articulate how informal and formal procedures and rules function to limit or enhance interdependence, inclusion, and self-determination within and between groups, organizations, or communities. (G8e)(G2f)
13. Appraise the role of self-advocacy groups in establishing, monitoring, and changing definitions of success embedded in practice, program, and policy outcomes. (C9a)(G9c)
14. Determine practice outcome evaluation methodologies that value the cultural strengths, expertise, and perspectives embedded in groups, organizations, and communities. (G9a)
15. Infer short- and long-term practice improvement goals that participatory action groups may adopt based on relevant practice or program evaluation findings. (G9d)(G9c)