Development of an assessment skills inventory for social workers : a questionnaire survey of psychiatric social workers.

Abstract

  The purpose of this study is to develop an assessment skills inventory for social workers. A self‒report inventory for the measure of assessment skills was developed, and its constructs and relationships with “problem prevention and problem‒solving skills group” were examined. Participants were the members of 4 prefectural Associations of Psychiatric Social Workers and the number of respondents was 277.

  Exploratory factor analysis identified a model of assessment skills consisting of three components of “practice” and three components of “thinking”. The “practice” consists of 19 items in 3 factors, which are “information gathering”, “hypothesis generation（practice）”, and “hypothesis testing”. The “thinking” consists of 20 items in 3 factors, which are “thinking during interview”, “information analysis”, and “hypothesis generation（thinking）”. Reliability ranges from .775 to .869. Also each factor score and “problem prevention and problem‒solving skills group” score as the external criteria showed a significant positive correlation. Therefore there is preliminary evidence of construct validity. The assessment skill inventory was demonstrated as a reliable and valid instrument.

  Significant correlation between the subscale scores of each factor and other attributes than age and years of experience was not seen. From this, the implications for a training program development are discussed.