What is the relationship between social work skills in simulated and real interviews?

Purpose Simulated interviews, where an actor plays a client, have been used in social work to assess students, to research the impact of training and education and to accredit qualified social workers. However, it is not known how strong the relationship is between skills in simulated interviews and those in real practice. This paper aims to analyze whether there is a relationship and how strong it is. Design/methodology/approach We analysed the relationship between skills in simulated interviews and real meetings with families for 48 social workers in 129 meetings. The analysis tested key skills associated with motivational interviewing (MI) in social work using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) coding scheme. Sixteen workers had been trained in MI and 32 had not. Findings We found statistically significant but comparatively weak relationships between skills in simulated and real meetings. The results were stronger where workers had been taught MI. Research limitations/implications Simulated interviews can be used to explore group differences but care needs to be taken in making judgements on individual workers. Practical implications The complexity of evaluating practice skills means that whether using simulated or real meetings multiple observations of skills are required before conclusions about individual worker ability can be drawn. The higher reliability for workers trained in MI suggests that simulated interviews may be a more valid way to test whether workers can demonstrate skills than whether they can actually do so in practice. This is a valid test as one element of evaluating training. Originality/value While simulated interviews have face validity for use to test social work skills, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to test their relationship to real practice.