Barbara Lee is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia. Barbara’s primary areas of research and practice is with children and families involved in the child welfare system in Canada. Barbara uses simulation-based learning to examine social work students’ readiness for field education and prepare students for direct practice with children, youth, and families.
Barbara Lee is the principal investigator of a 3-year (2018-2021) Teaching and Learning Evaluation Fund (TLEF) project called “Developing a Program of Teaching and Assessment Using Simulation in Child Welfare Training”. BSW and MSW students have the opportunity to participate in simulation workshops where they can work directly with standardized clients portraying a child maltreatment scenario and practice their social work skills. The case scenarios used in the simulation workshops were adapted to create two virtual (online) simulation modules depicting a social worker and client child maltreatment investigation interview. Research is underway to examine the utility and effectiveness of simulation in child welfare training in both in class and online formats.
Barbara Lee is a co-investigator of a 3-year (2018-2021) Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded research project called “Evaluating Decision-Making and Relationship Competence when Reporting Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect”. The research team (including Dr. Lea Tufford, principal investigator, Laurentian University; and Prof. Marion Bogo, co-investigator, University of Toronto) are developing and testing the Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) related to the mandatory reporting of child maltreatment. An educational toolkit is currently being developed to train social work students and practitioners in decision-making and relationship maintenance in the mandatory reporting of child maltreatment.