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Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

1.1 The Problem

The local setting for this project is at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. The problem that needs to be addressed relates to previous Master of Social Work (MSW) interns and the level of dissatisfaction that many have had with their internship experiences within the clinical training program at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 academic years. The population consists of adult learners that were involved in a graduate social work internship program at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Interns at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice participate in the clinical treatment program on a voluntary basis to fulfill the academic requirement of completing a clinical field practicum. Field practicums are clinical experiences where student interns are taught hands-on skills that relate to the information taught in classroom lectures. At the conclusion of each semester, field office at the University of South Carolina provides all field students with a final evaluation survey of their learning experience. These evaluations allow each individual student to provide subjective feedback, highlighting areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their learning throughout the semester. According to Kreml (personal communication, 21 July 2009), numerous student evaluations have indicated that graduating students were not satisfied with their overall learning experiences while training under masters-level, licensed clinical social workers at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice.

Social work field educators are graduate-level clinical social work practitioners that teach clinical social work concepts to students who have been placed within the agency. As part of the social work curriculum for clinical social workers, field placements are created whereby clinical social work students can work under field instructors in human service agencies. According to Fortune, Lee, and Cavacos (2004) various problems arise in social work field placements when social work students are not satisfied with their learning and begin not to value the field tasks. Problems that exist within social work field placements include interns not meeting individualized professional learning goals and a lack of clarity on how to apply research-based clinical techniques to various clinical scenarios (Fortune, Lee, and Cavacos, 2004).

The University of South Carolina is the local educational entity that seeks to train prospective clinical social workers The students and staff at the University of South Carolina College of Social Work are racially and ethnically diverse; however, the vast amount of students are females, with a small enrollment of male students. The South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice is an agency that is affiliated with the ...