Grounded in direct practice and scholarly inquiry, Simmons’s Ph.D. in Social Work prepares advanced clinical scholars for leadership careers in higher education, agency administration, research, and consultation. Offered since 1983, our highly regarded doctoral program furthers the school's commitment to advance the social work profession, improve the human service delivery system, and promote social justice in a multicultural world. The Ph.D. in Social Work attracts mature students who are committed to ongoing professional development — and who wish to influence the social work profession.
Program Structure
Offered on a part-time basis only, the doctoral program allows social work clinicians to stay active in their practices, while earning their degree. No clinical practicum is required, although doctoral students currently should be involved in clinical practice. The degree requires a total of 45 credits (15 courses), plus successful completion of a comprehensive qualifying paper and the doctoral dissertation.
The program schedule typically consists of two courses each semester (fall and spring), with additional opportunities for elective course study in the summer. Students should plan to schedule six to 10 hours a week per course to accommodate reading and writing assignments. Most students complete the program, including their dissertation defense, in five to seven years.
Coursework
Structured to develop core competencies, the doctoral curriculum addresses the science and practice of clinical social work, advanced research methods, and policy analysis, as well as practice trends and issues. We offer a progressive, hands-on curriculum program infused with social justice values and multicultural perspective. Students evaluate interdisciplinary theories relevant to social work; analyze social problems, social interventions, and social policy; participate in independent and collaborative research; and apply philosophical perspectives and ethical principles to knowledge development and practice.
While the curriculum allows some flexibility, all students are required to take the following 10 courses (30 credits):
- A Research Framework for Viewing Clinical Practice
- Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis
- Advanced Research and Statistics
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Ways of Knowing in Clinical Practice
- Theoretical Approaches to Understanding Human Behavior, Development, and Change
- Advanced Clinical Practice
- Social Welfare Policy and Human Systems
- Writing the Stories of Clinical Social Work
- Dissertation Proposal Seminar
The remaining 15 credits are electives. The SSW regularly offers elective courses in teaching, practice, program evaluation, social policy, social work administration, and ethics. At least nine credits must be taken at Simmons; students may take some electives at other approved educational institutions. The doctoral program also offers mini courses that typically meet for nine hours, over two or three days.
The Comprehensive Paper
The comprehensive paper represents a major transition point in a student's progress through the doctoral program. Written and submitted after two years of course work, the comprehensive paper signals a student's readiness to develop a dissertation proposal. Based on the knowledge and skills gained in earlier courses, the "comps" reflect a student’s ability to conceptualize a clear and compelling topic; to organize, effectively present, and critique knowledge relevant to that topic; and to propose a research focus informed by a review of relevant literature.
The Dissertation
The production of a dissertation and its oral defense are major components in doctoral education. The dissertation is both a product and a process. As a product, it must address, in a creative and original way, a substantive area of concern to social work in an attempt to advance professional knowledge and to contribute to the ongoing development of the profession’s knowledge base. As a process, the dissertation is an educational endeavor in which the student demonstrates the ability to integrate social work practice knowledge and theory with sound empirical research principles.
Recent dissertation topics include:
- Reclaiming and Constructing Identities: The Journey Out of Homelessness for Persons with Mental Illness
- To Hear and to Respond: The Influence of Zen Buddhist Meditation on the Practice of Clinical Social Work
- Adaptation and Transformation: The Transition to Adoptive Parenthood for Gay Male Couples
- Self-perceived Unpopularity in Children and Adolescents: Its Antecedents, Characteristics, and Relationship to Later Maladjustment
- Symptoms of Trauma in Middle-aged and Older Female Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse: An Ecological Examination of Risk and Protective Factors
- Mental Illness and the Family in Later Life: The Mothers' Perspective
- Psychosocial Implications of Positive HIV Test Results for Gay Men
- Women after War — Vietnam Experiences and Post Traumatic Stress Contribution to Social Adjustment Problems of Red Cross Workers and Military Nurses
- Transgender Behavior in Boys: The Social Work Response
- Searching for the Factors that Contribute to the Continued AIDS Risk of Minority Women in Substance Abuse Treatment: A
- Challenge for Social Work in the New Millennium
- Exploring “Use of Self”: From Definitional Challenges to Identifying Best Practices
- Sex-Role Stereotypes and Social Workers’ Judgments of Mental Health
- Parenting Stressors, Need for Services, and Caregiving Self Efficacy Among Mothers of Children With Mild Intellectual Development Disabilities in Kuwait: Assessing Impact Between Variables
- Functioning in Adults with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Family Responses: A Transactional Perspective
- Oldest Old Women Tell Us How They Manage Their Lives
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