Toula Kourgiantakis
Biographic Data
| ID | 5413441 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Toula Kourgiantakis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Toula |
| FAMILY NAME | Kourgiantakis |
| SIGNATURE | KOURGIANTAKIS T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2491-2595 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 35 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A scoping review on stigma by association: Advancing the understanding of concerned significant others affected by addictions.
Developing a cultural eye and mapping mental health and health competence in social work curricula: A community–engaged competency framework
Social work education is grounded in a mandate for competent and culturally relevant practice. Yet there is a lack of literature describing the curricular development processes that center culture and community, particularly as it relates to Master of Social Work (MSW) specializations. This paper elucidates a community-engaged ‘top down, bottom up’ organizational change process of competency development, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring…
Praxis of cross-cultural social work practice (CCSWP): A critical discourse analysis of graduate student and faculty perspectives on cultural competence and relevant constructs
To examine how social work students and faculty perceive and embody cultural competence, we conducted five focus groups with graduate students ( N = 16) and faculty members ( N = 10) from Canadian schools of social work. We interrogated how different theoretical frameworks related to cross-cultural social work practice (CCSWP) have been circulated and reified in social work education, and how certain dominant frameworks have been translated to em…
Centering social justice in undergraduate social work education: A scoping review of pedagogical methods of teaching
Social justice is a foundational social work value. Scholars express ongoing pedagogical challenges with how to teach students to embody social justice values. New to the social work profession, undergraduate students are in a pivotal stage to be trained as social-justice oriented future social workers. The aim of this review is to map empirical studies on teaching methods that translate social justice value into teachable curricula. Following Ar…
Teaching students to identify and address significant critical moments in cross-cultural social work practice
Critical social work practice should transcend across micro, mezzo, and macro levels, and it is a social work educator’s responsibility to foster skills that are contextualized and connected to social justice and anti-oppressive frameworks. Despite the importance of addressing and integrating systemic oppression in cross-cultural social work practice, students struggle with being able to translate their knowing into doing. Using a video case of a…
Pedagogical approaches for social justice and diversity in Canadian social work education
This paper aims to explore social justice and diversity education in Canadian schools of social work. Using an online survey, we invited faculty members to share their teaching experiences in social justice and diversity courses. Participants included 24 faculty members who have taught either undergraduate or graduate students in accredited social work schools across Canada. Using descriptive synthesis and content analysis, the findings revealed …
A Scoping Review to Guide Social Work Policy-Practice for Pandemic Recovery
Purpose: The aim of this scoping review is to systematically scope the literature on social work, the COVID-19 pandemic, and health policy. The research question guiding the scoping review is: What are the policy issues emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic that are of importance for social workers working in health and mental health? Method: Scoping review methodology following Arksey and O’Malley's five-stage framework. Results: A final sample …
Marion Bogo, a Visionary, Innovator, and Leader: Reflecting on Her Groundbreaking Work on Simulation-Based Social Work Education
This tribute article highlights Professor Marion Bogo’s groundbreaking work on simulation-based social work education. We highlight Professor Bogo’s lifetime commitment to enhancing social work education through research, mentorship, and innovation. Professor Bogo advanced the use of simulation with trained actors by implementing a structured and evidence-informed approach to competency development among social work students. For student assessme…
Canadian social work education in mental health and addictions: Understanding perspectives of faculty members
Social workers play an important role in the field of mental health and addictions, but there are concerns about the level of training and education offered by social work programs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of Canadian social work faculty members on social work education in mental health and addictions. We conducted focus groups and individual interviews with faculty (N = 14) from English and French so…
Applying behavioural activation (BA) and simulation-based learning (SBL) approaches to enhance MSW students’ competence in suicide risk assessment, prevention, and intervention (SRAPI)
Providing adequate training on suicide assessment and intervention for students is of utmost importance in social work education. Given students’ anxiety around working with clients who have potential risk of suicide, scholars underline the benefits of experiential learning to enhance competence in MSW students in suicide risk assessment, prevention, and intervention (SRAPI). This paper illustrates how a required advanced mental health practice c…
Teaching Note—Preparing Advanced Standing Students for Social Work Practice
There have been longstanding debates about Master of Social Work (MSW) Advanced Standing programs. Many schools of social work offer Advanced Standing status to students with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) that allows students to enter directly into a concentrated and specialized second year of the MSW program. There are arguments that BSW programs are not equivalent to the foundational year of the MSW and do not adequately prepare students for …
Social Work Education and Training in Mental Health, Addictions, and Suicide: A Scoping Review
Social workers have an important role in the field of mental health, and social work programs have a responsibility to prepare students for practice in the field. This scoping review mapped and synthesized the literature on mental health, addictions, and suicide in social work education and training. We found 51 articles that examined social work education in addictions (n=23), suicide (n=17), and mental health (n=7), and some articles (n=4) focu…
Developing mental health and addiction competencies in social work students using simulation-based learning
Social workers are one of the core professionals on the mental health workforce and most work with individuals, families, and communities with mental health and addiction concerns. Schools of social work have a responsibility to adequately prepare students for practice in the field of mental health and addictions, but there are gaps in social work education and training. This paper describes a social work practice in mental health course that has…
Developing holistic competence in cross-cultural social work practice: Simulation-based learning optimized by blended teaching approach
Integrating anti-oppressive practice (AOP) into clinical interactions is critical for embodying social justice values and promoting equitable and socially just interventions in social work practice. Therefore, training social work students to perform this task is invaluable and pedagogically challenging. Social work education scholars note that students’ knowledge and attitudes are not automatically translated into well-demonstrated professional …
Practicing alliance: An experiential model of teaching diversity and inclusion for social work practice and education
Social work students are expected to engage diversity and difference in practice, yet few approaches in social work education explicitly focus on strengthening skills required for such allyship engagement. Constructs such as cultural competence, cultural humility, and intersectionality are often difficult for students to learn and for educators to teach effectively. This article describes Practicing Alliance, a curriculum that extends the Ally Mo…
Social work field instruction: A scoping review
Recognizing that despite what has been termed a ‘crisis’ in field education or practice learning, there exists a robust contemporary empirical literature illuminating a range of issues related to offering quality educational experiences to students in agency and community settings. The aim of this scoping review was to offer an overview and understanding of the contemporary field education empirical literature, focusing specifically on field inst…
Observational learning in simulation-based social work education: Comparison of interviewers and observers
Simulation-based learning is gaining attention in social work education. While research suggests clear pedagogical benefits for those who engage simulated clients as interviewers, little is known about the learning processes among observers of simulation teaching. Using social learning and social cognitive theories as a theoretical framework, we examined observational learning in simulation by comparing the experiences of students who participate…
Pedagogical Methods of Teaching Social Justice in Social Work: A Scoping Review
Purpose: Social justice is a foundational social work value, but social work education continues to experience ongoing challenges with how to teach students to embody social justice values. The aim of this scoping review is to map empirical studies on teaching methods that translate social justice value into teachable curricula. Methods: Following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, we conducted a rigorous process in which we screened…
Collaboration in Interprofessional Primary Care Teams during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in the field of integrated care on a continuous basis.IJIC has an Impact Factor of 5.120 (2020 JCR, received in June 2021)The IJIC 20th Anniversary Issue was published in 2021
Clinical Social Work Practice in Canada: A Critical Examination of Regulation
Purpose: The most common form of social work (SW) practice in Canada is clinical which requires specialized knowledge and advanced clinical skills. The SW profession is more than 100 years old, but regulation is new to Canada and presently most jurisdictions have regulatory bodies to advance safe, competent, and ethical practices. Regulatory bodies establish admission requirements, standards of practice, ethical guidelines, supervision, continuin…
Microskills of broaching and bridging in cross-cultural psychotherapy: Locating therapy skills in the epistemic domain toward fostering epistemic justice
Psychotherapy research has shown evidence of positive impacts of broaching cultural differences on the therapy process and outcomes. This increasing body of research also highlights a need to clarify clinical skills of broaching and subsequent bridging to guide therapists in cross-cultural psychotherapy. In articulating microskills to promote broaching and bridging, we critically reflect on cautions against slipping into a technocratic approach t…
Developing a model of broaching and bridging in cross-cultural psychotherapy: Toward fostering epistemic and social justice
Epistemic and social injustice occurs when therapists implicitly and explicitly impose personal, professional, and institutional power onto clients, and dismiss client experience which is embedded in cultural identity and social location. Despite research evidence highlighting the positive impact of broaching in cross-cultural psychotherapy, questioning the rationale and barriers to broaching is paramount. Drawing from scholarship on epistemic in…
Navigating inequities in the delivery of youth mental health care during the Covid-19 pandemic: Perspectives of youth, families, and service providers
At a time when mental health needs were higher, the mental health care system offered less support to youth and their families. For a more equitable response to the pandemic, we need an accessible and integrated mental health care system that shows a commitment to addressing social determinants and reducing health disparities and inequities in access to mental health services
Teaching Note—Virtual Practice Fridays: Responding to Disruptions Caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Field and Classroom
Preparing students for social work practice is an important responsibility shared by field education and schools of social work. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to social work practice training and education in the classroom and field. This teaching note describes an online simulation-based learning activity known as Virtual Practice Fridays that was adapted from an in-person activity in response to the pandemic. Virtual Practice Fri…
Teaching Note—Teaching Socially Just Culturally Competent Practice Online: Pedagogical Challenges and Lessons Learned During the Pandemic
Centering social justice into social work practice is vital to the profession, but both what and how to accomplish this task are pedagogical challenges in social work education. This teaching note introduces an elective course open to both Master of Social Work and doctoral students to develop holistic competence for socially just and culturally competent social work practice. We describe how the course originally designed in an in-person format …
Social work practice education and training during the pandemic: Disruptions and discoveries
The COVID-19 pandemic evoked a disruption to social work (SW) practice education and this brief note describes discoveries made in teaching SW practice virtually. One example is Virtual Practice Fridays, adapted to build SW practice competencies online, and another example is a re-designed course on cross-cultural SW practice using simulation-based learning
Navigating inequities in the delivery of youth mental health care during the Covid-19 pandemic: Perspectives of youth, families, and service providers
At a time when mental health needs were higher, the mental health care system offered less support to youth and their families. For a more equitable response to the pandemic, we need an accessible and integrated mental health care system that shows a commitment to addressing social determinants and reducing health disparities and inequities in access to mental health services
Clinical Social Work Practice in Canada: A Critical Examination of Regulation
Purpose: The most common form of social work (SW) practice in Canada is clinical which requires specialized knowledge and advanced clinical skills. The SW profession is more than 100 years old, but regulation is new to Canada and presently most jurisdictions have regulatory bodies to advance safe, competent, and ethical practices. Regulatory bodies establish admission requirements, standards of practice, ethical guidelines, supervision, continuin…
Researching Children’s Adjustment in Stepfamilies: How is it Studied? What Do we Learn
Students’ conceptualization of culture and diversity with a simulated client
Teaching students about culture and diversity in social work practice is a complex and important task for social work educators. In this study, we assessed students’ conceptualization of culture and diversity factors following a simulated interview. Participants (N = 57 MSW students) completed a reflection questionnaire post-simulation and we conducted thematic analysis of the data. Three themes emerged: 1) culture and diversity impacted the inte…
Facilitators and Barriers to Family Involvement in Problem Gambling Treatment
Researching Children’s Adjustment in Stepfamilies: How is it Studied? What Do we Learn
Social Work’s Scope of Practice in Primary Mental Health Care: A Scoping Review
The inclusion of social workers as members of inter-professional primary health-care teams is an asset to health-care delivery by improving access to a broad range of psycho-social and mental health-care services and programmes. This scoping review examined the literature to summarise social work’s scope of practice in the provision of primary mental health care. Five electronic databases were searched within any given year to provide a comprehen…
Simulation in Social Work Education: A Scoping Review
Purpose: This article presents a scoping review that synthesized empirical studies on simulation in social work (SW) education. The review maps the research examining characteristics of simulation studies in SW education and emerging best practices. Method: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework to develop the methodology and following the PRISMA-ScR checklist, we selected 52 studies for this review. Results: Most studies were publi…
Students’ conceptualization of culture and diversity with a simulated client
Teaching students about culture and diversity in social work practice is a complex and important task for social work educators. In this study, we assessed students’ conceptualization of culture and diversity factors following a simulated interview. Participants (N = 57 MSW students) completed a reflection questionnaire post-simulation and we conducted thematic analysis of the data. Three themes emerged: 1) culture and diversity impacted the inte…
Social work practice education and training during the pandemic: Disruptions and discoveries
The COVID-19 pandemic evoked a disruption to social work (SW) practice education and this brief note describes discoveries made in teaching SW practice virtually. One example is Virtual Practice Fridays, adapted to build SW practice competencies online, and another example is a re-designed course on cross-cultural SW practice using simulation-based learning
Teaching Note—Virtual Practice Fridays: Responding to Disruptions Caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Field and Classroom
Preparing students for social work practice is an important responsibility shared by field education and schools of social work. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to social work practice training and education in the classroom and field. This teaching note describes an online simulation-based learning activity known as Virtual Practice Fridays that was adapted from an in-person activity in response to the pandemic. Virtual Practice Fri…
Teaching Note—Teaching Socially Just Culturally Competent Practice Online: Pedagogical Challenges and Lessons Learned During the Pandemic
Centering social justice into social work practice is vital to the profession, but both what and how to accomplish this task are pedagogical challenges in social work education. This teaching note introduces an elective course open to both Master of Social Work and doctoral students to develop holistic competence for socially just and culturally competent social work practice. We describe how the course originally designed in an in-person format …
Cognitive and affective processes: MSW students’ awareness and coping through simulated interviews
Social workers engage with and hold the emotional context of clients, while managing their own cognitive and affective reactions. As such, the importance of attending to social work students’ emotional reactions in the classroom to effectively prepare them for field education and practice has been recognized. A greater understanding of cognitive and affective processes and how to teach students to be increasingly self-aware can better equip futur…
The health social work competency rating scale: Development of a tool for education and practice
Integrating contextual competency frameworks into health social work education and practice can bolster student training and staff supervision strategies. This article describes the iterative development of a Health Social Work Competency Rating Scale (HSWCRS), generated using a competency framework tested through simulation and an iterative research process with healthcare social workers. A modified Delphi method consisting of an e-mail question…
A trauma-informed approach in Canadian mental health policies: A systematic mapping review
Coaching MSW Students on Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Using Simulation-Based Learning (SBL): Developing Competencies in Clinical Social Work Practice
In training clinical social workers, it is critical for students to practice implementing their skills and knowledge about treatment approaches while being closely coached by instructors. This paper illustrates how this type of learning was accomplished in an MSW course through simulation-based learning in a flipped classroom. Using Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), one of the core modalities of clinical social work practice, we illustrate how w…
Teaching Note—Preparing Advanced Standing Students for Social Work Practice
There have been longstanding debates about Master of Social Work (MSW) Advanced Standing programs. Many schools of social work offer Advanced Standing status to students with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) that allows students to enter directly into a concentrated and specialized second year of the MSW program. There are arguments that BSW programs are not equivalent to the foundational year of the MSW and do not adequately prepare students for …
Social Work Education and Training in Mental Health, Addictions, and Suicide: A Scoping Review
Social workers have an important role in the field of mental health, and social work programs have a responsibility to prepare students for practice in the field. This scoping review mapped and synthesized the literature on mental health, addictions, and suicide in social work education and training. We found 51 articles that examined social work education in addictions (n=23), suicide (n=17), and mental health (n=7), and some articles (n=4) focu…
Developing mental health and addiction competencies in social work students using simulation-based learning
Social workers are one of the core professionals on the mental health workforce and most work with individuals, families, and communities with mental health and addiction concerns. Schools of social work have a responsibility to adequately prepare students for practice in the field of mental health and addictions, but there are gaps in social work education and training. This paper describes a social work practice in mental health course that has…
Developing holistic competence in cross-cultural social work practice: Simulation-based learning optimized by blended teaching approach
Integrating anti-oppressive practice (AOP) into clinical interactions is critical for embodying social justice values and promoting equitable and socially just interventions in social work practice. Therefore, training social work students to perform this task is invaluable and pedagogically challenging. Social work education scholars note that students’ knowledge and attitudes are not automatically translated into well-demonstrated professional …
Practicing alliance: An experiential model of teaching diversity and inclusion for social work practice and education
Social work students are expected to engage diversity and difference in practice, yet few approaches in social work education explicitly focus on strengthening skills required for such allyship engagement. Constructs such as cultural competence, cultural humility, and intersectionality are often difficult for students to learn and for educators to teach effectively. This article describes Practicing Alliance, a curriculum that extends the Ally Mo…
Social work field instruction: A scoping review
Recognizing that despite what has been termed a ‘crisis’ in field education or practice learning, there exists a robust contemporary empirical literature illuminating a range of issues related to offering quality educational experiences to students in agency and community settings. The aim of this scoping review was to offer an overview and understanding of the contemporary field education empirical literature, focusing specifically on field inst…
Observational learning in simulation-based social work education: Comparison of interviewers and observers
Simulation-based learning is gaining attention in social work education. While research suggests clear pedagogical benefits for those who engage simulated clients as interviewers, little is known about the learning processes among observers of simulation teaching. Using social learning and social cognitive theories as a theoretical framework, we examined observational learning in simulation by comparing the experiences of students who participate…
Pedagogical Methods of Teaching Social Justice in Social Work: A Scoping Review
Purpose: Social justice is a foundational social work value, but social work education continues to experience ongoing challenges with how to teach students to embody social justice values. The aim of this scoping review is to map empirical studies on teaching methods that translate social justice value into teachable curricula. Methods: Following Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework, we conducted a rigorous process in which we screened…
Collaboration in Interprofessional Primary Care Teams during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in the field of integrated care on a continuous basis.IJIC has an Impact Factor of 5.120 (2020 JCR, received in June 2021)The IJIC 20th Anniversary Issue was published in 2021
Clinical Social Work Practice in Canada: A Critical Examination of Regulation
Purpose: The most common form of social work (SW) practice in Canada is clinical which requires specialized knowledge and advanced clinical skills. The SW profession is more than 100 years old, but regulation is new to Canada and presently most jurisdictions have regulatory bodies to advance safe, competent, and ethical practices. Regulatory bodies establish admission requirements, standards of practice, ethical guidelines, supervision, continuin…
Microskills of broaching and bridging in cross-cultural psychotherapy: Locating therapy skills in the epistemic domain toward fostering epistemic justice
Psychotherapy research has shown evidence of positive impacts of broaching cultural differences on the therapy process and outcomes. This increasing body of research also highlights a need to clarify clinical skills of broaching and subsequent bridging to guide therapists in cross-cultural psychotherapy. In articulating microskills to promote broaching and bridging, we critically reflect on cautions against slipping into a technocratic approach t…
Developing a model of broaching and bridging in cross-cultural psychotherapy: Toward fostering epistemic and social justice
Epistemic and social injustice occurs when therapists implicitly and explicitly impose personal, professional, and institutional power onto clients, and dismiss client experience which is embedded in cultural identity and social location. Despite research evidence highlighting the positive impact of broaching in cross-cultural psychotherapy, questioning the rationale and barriers to broaching is paramount. Drawing from scholarship on epistemic in…
Navigating inequities in the delivery of youth mental health care during the Covid-19 pandemic: Perspectives of youth, families, and service providers
At a time when mental health needs were higher, the mental health care system offered less support to youth and their families. For a more equitable response to the pandemic, we need an accessible and integrated mental health care system that shows a commitment to addressing social determinants and reducing health disparities and inequities in access to mental health services
Psychology (29 works) · Social Work (26 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (26 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Interprofessional Education and Collaboration (21 works) · Pedagogy (19 works) · Political science (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Medical education (16 works) · Social Psychology (14 works)