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A National Content Analysis of PhD Program Objectives, Structures, and Curricula: Do Programs Address the Full Range of Social Work’s Needs?

The Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GADE) promotes excellence in PhD education in Social Work. GADE’s 2013 Quality Guidelines for PhD Programs heavily emphasize preparation for research. Little is known, however, about the details of the contemporary social work PhD program structure and curriculum. Several prior surveys have examined doctoral curriculum requirements, though none was completed in the past 20 years. This content analysis of the 69 U.S.-based, GADE full-member PhD programs offers updated information on program objectives, models, required credit hours, and whether the MSW degree is necessary for admission. The study also summarizes specific curriculum requirements including the number of required courses in research, statistics, practice, policy, philosophy of science, and teaching, along with elective course requirements. Whether research, teaching, and/or practice internships were compulsory and the kinds of dissertations models required for the PhD degree are also reported. Findings show strong emphasis on research and statistics but wide variation in other areas, including teaching and practice. Compared with estimates of labor force needs in the social work profession and academy, it may be that the current emphasis of social work PhD programs does not fully address the core needs of the profession.