Perceptions of Field Instructors: What Skills are Critically Important inManaged Care and Privatized Environments?

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for social work practitioners to work in managed care and privatized environments. In an attempt to build social work curriculum and identify important competencies needed in contemporary service environments, researchers investigated South Florida field instructors’ (N=79) perceptions of necessary knowledge and skill to work in environments affected by privatization and managed care. This study’s findings indicate that field instructors (98%) identified documentation as the most critically important skill for any social work position. Additionally, respondents identified intervention evaluation (95%), time focused and needs-based assessments strategies (94%), and evaluation of progress through outcome measures (94%) as other critically important skills for current and future practitioners.