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.