This book is designed and structured around the nine professional social work competencies as defined by the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), with one or two chapters devoted to each professional competency. The book's coverage of the professional social work competencies helps students develop the knowledge and skills needed to become effective social workers. Each chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the theories, concepts, and practice components of a competency. The book focuses on mastering the professional competencies rather than just presenting content on social work practice. This approach helps students expand their competency knowledge, application, and integration by creating a purposeful approach to the development of their professional competencies that must be mastered by today's social work students. The book is designed for use in undergraduate and graduate social work practice courses. It uses the professional competencies as the structure. The chapters cover all components of the professional competencies described in EPAS 2015, which includes demonstrate ethical and professional behavior; advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice; engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice; and engage in policy practice. This approach ensures that the professional competencies are covered in the social practice course(s) and that students experience the relationships among the competencies and social work practice better, preparing them for their field education and future practice as social work professionals. Each chapter begins with opening vignettes to help engage students in the chapter content, followed by chapter objectives that outline the key concepts. In addition, each chapter has multiple case examples, critical thinking questions, and a detailed case summary with discussion questions. The book covers topics that students need for competency-based social work practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and community clients and constituents.

This textbook targets Bachelor of Social Work and Master in Social Work programs that require students to conduct capstone research projects and/or research projects tied to their field placements. The focus is on designing, implementing and reporting research projects aimed at improving programs and services. Although the book reviews some content typically provided in social work research and/or generalist practice courses it is not intended to compete with existing social work research or practice textbooks. It is the only one available in social work that focuses on student's capstone research projects. Covering data collection methods, program evaluation, organization and community needs assessments, practice-effectiveness studies, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the book also addresses best practices for presenting findings upon completion of the applied research project. Additional features include abundant case examples demonstrating the application of theory to practice and an examination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, while also helping students demonstrate social work practice competencies within their capstone projects. Practice activities in each chapter help students apply knowledge to their research projects; and technology exercises help students master important digital research techniques. A capstone project checklist and competency log help students monitor progress, and QR codes provide supplementary support and resources. The book delivers step-by-step information on creating high-quality social work capstone projects from conception through presentation. It includes a detailed summary of the major applied research approaches to improving social work programs and services. The book explains how to research literature and write a problem statement on a social service issue. It contains extensive information on how to write effective capstone research papers along with abundant examples. The book helps students to demonstrate social work practice competencies and offers case examples throughout to demonstrate the application of theory to practice.