Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Effective Ethics Education for Graduate Social Work Students

Magiste, Edward John
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7802-2379
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1450175285

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, College of Education and Human Services.
The study explored the relationships between curriculum, field practice, and individual moral reasoning and a critically reasoned belief system for graduate social work students. Effective competency-based education enables individuals to develop the cognitive skills necessary to behave according to professional standards. Field practice enables individuals to transfer learning from classroom theory into practice, and dialogues with faculty, field supervisors, peers and veteran social workers inform individuals’ moral reasoning skills. Students from seven graduate schools of social work were invited to participate in an online survey consisting of three subscales, the POS-9, Field Placement, and the Pike Moral Reasoning Scale as well as several demographic questions. The POS-9 had a Cronbach’s alpha of .987. The Field Placement Scale had a Cronbach’s alpha of .982. Pike (1996) reports a Cronbach’s alpha of .78 on the Moral Reasoning Scale. A multiple regression analysis (n = 94) revealed that gender and scores on the POS-9 significantly predicts critically-reasoned beliefs. The overall effect size on responses to the three subscales was 8.262507: For the POS only, the effect size is 3.5851525, for the Field Placement, it is 10.57968, and for the Moral Reasoning scale it is 1.872507. Levels of moral reasoning were found to be more rule-based than reason-based. Based on these findings, it is recommended that graduate social work programs incorporate more problem-based learning strategies to enhance students’ levels of critical reasoning. The study offers the following recommendations: a.) continue to explore what is occurring for graduate social work students in their field placements; b.) to continue to what it means to be a professional and professionally educated by conducting other studies in graduate social work schools. Finally, it is recommended that there be additional research in the potential shifts in the social consciences and consciousness of graduate social work students to ascertain the roles of essential social work values in their lives. Future research could determine to what extent more current values and attitudes shapes the consciousness of professionals and how these impact professional behavior.
Maggie Jackson, Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair)
Joshua Bagaka's, Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair)
Anne Galletta, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Jeremy Genovese, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Karl Wheatley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Larry Foster, Ph.D. (Other)
211 p.
Adult Education; Education; Ethics; Social Work
critically reasoned belief system; education, ethics education, graduate education, moral reasoning, social work education, problem-based learning

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Magiste, E. J. (2015). Effective Ethics Education for Graduate Social Work Students [Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1450175285

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Magiste, Edward. Effective Ethics Education for Graduate Social Work Students. 2015. Cleveland State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1450175285.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Magiste, Edward. "Effective Ethics Education for Graduate Social Work Students." Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1450175285

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

csu1450175285
1,546
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Cleveland State University and OhioLINK.