Impact of Simulation on Social Work Students' Attunement and Self-Awareness Skills

Simulation as a pedagogical tool has been well-established in health care yet, it is emerging as a means for educating social work students. This multi-method exploratory study examines the impact of a simulation experience in an MSW program in a large Midwestern city. Students participated in an asynchronous screen-based simulation with an avatar and a synchronous remote client session with a trained actor. Before participating, students received a one-hour recorded training on interpersonal attunement skills using the Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) tool. They were instructed to use interviewing skills and attunement as they interacted with the actor in the remote simulation. Qualitative findings from student reflection papers (n = 180) included themes around improving attunement and self-awareness, the importance of using a strengths perspective, and the value of simulation in providing a low-stakes environment in which to develop skills. Quantitative results demonstrate significant improvement in attunement by students after the simulation experiences (n = 57, p = .003). Implications of these findings for the use of simulation in social work education and for future research are discussed.