| This study developed and validated the first known instrument designed to assess social workers' thanatological competence, advance the knowledge/skills of existing practitioners', and evaluate existing training curricula's alignment with societal needs. The Social Work Thanatology Competency Scale (SWTCS) was established based on relevant literature, the author's 17 years of clinical experience with death-related issues, and rigorous methodological and statistical evaluation processes. Gamino and Ritter Jr.'s notion of death competence formed the conceptual framework for the investigation. Data was gathered electronically from 2,500-plus licensed social workers in seven U.S. states through a self-report electronic survey comprised of the SWTCS, Bugen's Coping with Death Scale, and demographic/professional questions. The study used exploratory factor analysis to refine the 38-item instrument to 13-items. The one-factor solution was then replicated using an independent sample. Reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity analyses conducted on the independent sample deemed the SWTCS psychometrically sound. The discipline-specific instrument offers the profession a sound means of evaluating and refining all social workers' knowledge/skills in uncomplicated death, dying, and bereavement care. The tool is also appropriate for integration into educational/quasi-educational contexts such as the Bachelor's of Social Work and Master's of Social Work curricula and continuing education programs. Additionally, the scale can be used in developing micro-and-macro-level thanatology competence standards for hiring and licensure. |
