scholarly journals Enhancing Self-Awareness: A Practical Strategy to Train Culturally Responsive Social Work Students

10.18060/482 ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nalini J. Negi ◽  
Kimberly A. Bender ◽  
Rich Furman ◽  
Dawnovise N. Fowler ◽  
Julia Clark Prickett
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Culturally Responsive Practice ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Competence Training ◽  
Self Discovery

A primary goal of social justice educators is to engage students in a process of self-discovery, with the goal of helping them recognize their own biases, develop empathy, and become better prepared for culturally responsive practice. While social work educators are mandated with the important task of training future social workers in culturally responsive practice with diverse populations, practical strategies on how to do so are scant. This article introduces a teaching exercise, the Ethnic Roots Assignment, which has been shown qualitatively to aid students in developing self-awareness, a key component of culturally competent social work practice. Practical suggestions for classroom utilization, common challenges, and past student responses to participating in the exercise are provided. The dissemination of such a teaching exercise can increase the field’s resources for addressing the important goal of cultural competence training.

scholarly journals Applying anti-oppressive approach to social work practice in Africa: reflections of Nigerian BSW students

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solomon Amadasun ◽  
Tracy Beauty Evbayiro Omorogiuwa
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose As the next generation of social workers in a continent bedecked by oppressive customs, it is cardinal that the voices of social work students be heard. This study aims to share the reflections of Nigerian BSW students about anti-oppressive approach to professional practice. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted among fourth-year social work students at one of the elite universities in the southern region of Nigeria. Findings Results reveal that, although willing to challenge oppressive practices, social work students are ill-equipped to apply anti-oppressive approach to social work practice in Nigeria. Research limitations/implications This study makes an important contribution to the field and to the existing literature because the findings have broader implications for social work education in Nigeria. Practical implications In enforcing the suggestions of this study, it is expected that social work education will become able to produce competently trained students who are only knowledgeable about anti-oppressive social work but are equally prepared to address Nigeria’s myriad oppressive practices that have long undermined the nation’s quest for social development. Social implications The application of the anti-oppressive approach to social work practice is integral to ridding society of all forms of overt social injustice and other forms of latent oppressive policies. Originality/value Suggestions are offered to Nigerian social work educators toward ensuring that students are not only well equipped in the understanding of anti-oppressive social work but also ready to apply this model to professional social work practice following their graduation.

Fields of Social Work Practice: Social Work Students' Attitudes and Interests

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Csikai ◽  
Kathleen Belanger
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Msw Students ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Students Attitudes

This article reports the results of a study designed to examine factors that influence social work students' interest in eight fields of practice, through the use of a multidimensional measure of attitudes. BSW students indicated greatest interest in school social work, children's services, and child welfare services, whereas MSW students preferred medical social work, children's services, and mental health. A common predictor of students' interest in six settings was the belief that working in a particular field would be depressing. Social work educators must determine trend areas of highest demand for professional services and adapt curricula to enhance interest and prepare graduates to meet the changing needs of society.

Cultural Competence and Critical Consciousness in Social Work Pedagogy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Pitner ◽  
Izumi Sakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Fundamental Building Block ◽  
Identity Paper

For social workers, developing cultural competence is a necessary hallmark for interacting with our increasingly diverse and complex world. Developing cultural competence, however, requires continuously raising one’s level of critical consciousness. Critical consciousness and related concepts such as reflexivity, critical self-reflection, and critical self-awareness are widely recognized as a fundamental building block of human service practice, including social work practice. However, the dynamics involved in raising our own levels of critical consciousness are lengthy and messy because we often encounter cognitive and affective roadblocks. Thus, there is no single pedagogical strategy that could help all social work students effectively engage with this process. In this article the concept of critical consciousness postulated by Pitner and Sakamoto is applied specifically to the social work classroom setting. Their Critical Consciousness Conceptual Model (CCCM), which describes the process of developing critical consciousness by engaging one’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains, is presented. How this model can be incorporated as a pedagogical tool to help social work students develop and further strengthen their own levels of critical consciousness in the classroom setting is discussed, as are various pedagogical methods, including classroom debate, identity paper assignment, “creating a world map” exercise, and mindfulness-based pedagogy. Finally, implications for social work education are explored.

scholarly journals COPING, RESILIENCE AND POSTTRAUMATIC GROWTH: ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES AND SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-35
Author(s):  
Glynnis Dykes
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Posttraumatic Growth ◽  
Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Adverse Childhood ◽  
Life Lessons

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions of third-year social work students at a selected university in South Africa regarding the effects of having endured adverse childhood experiences. Findings showed the beginnings of positive life lessons that can emerge from having endured adverse experiences. Findings also confirmed the process of coping with these experiences that included outcomes of resilience and burgeoning posttraumatic growth. Implications are discussed especially regarding the place and development of coping, resilience and posttraumatic growth in social work education and social work practice. Recommendations include the professional use of self and self-awareness through mindfulness teaching practices.

Defining Criteria on Professional Suitability for Social Work Practice

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dora Tam ◽  
Heather Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Field Instructors ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Qualitative Responses

Social work educators are responsible for ensuring that social work students demonstrate the required practice competencies before they graduate and enter the profession. However, the lack of concrete criteria for evaluating student suitability poses challenges to social work educators. This article reports the results from a questionnaire survey mailed to BSW field instructors asking them to define criteria for professional suitability in social work. Of the 190 questionnaires that were returned, 142 contained qualitative responses defining criteria for professional suitability. Emerging from these responses were five categories consisting of 30 items defining professional suitability. They were personal suitability, practice suitability, ethical suitability, interpersonal suitability, and social consciousness suitability. Implications for social work education and future research are discussed.

Using a Strengths-Based Perspective to Change Perceptions: An Exploratory Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Karen Rice ◽  
Heather Girvin
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Change Perceptions ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Negative Perceptions

Child welfare is a field plagued with negative perceptions, which have the potential to influence how caseworkers approach their practice with families. As a result, a child welfare course emphasizing the strengths-based approach to practice with families was developed to better prepare students for engaging families and building a helping alliance. The researchers sought to examine whether this new course exerted a positive influence on undergraduate social work students' perception of the parent/caseworker relationship. Compared to undergraduate students not enrolled in this course, at post-test students enrolled in the Child Welfare course more positively perceived the parent/caseworker relationship than they did at pretest. Implications for social work practice and pedagogy are discussed.

Beyond the Code of Ethics, Part II: Dual Relationships Revisited

2002 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 483-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Freud ◽  
Stefan Krug
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Dual Relationships ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Social Work Practitioners

The authors, both social work educators, serve on an ethics call line committee that provides insights on how the provisions of the (United States) National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (NASW, 1996) interface with the ethical dilemmas encountered by the social work community. In this paper, the authors highlight aspects of social work practice that they consider ethical, yet not easily accommodated by the provisions of the current Code. They also question the 1996 introduction of the concept of dual relationships into the Code and suggest that the Code adopt the less ambiguous term of boundary violations. Also recognized by the authors is the need for clear boundaries for the protection of clients against temptations that might arise in a fiduciary relationship, and for the legal protection of social workers. But, the authors argue, social work practitioners in certain settings, with particular populations, and in certain roles, inevitably face multiple relationships as an integral aspect of their work. The authors conclude that social work's adoption of the psychoanalytic constrains of anonymity, neutrality, and abstinence has detoured the profession from its original double focus on individuals and their society.

scholarly journals Roles of Positive Psychology for Mental Health in UK Social Work Students: Self-Compassion as a Predictor of Better Mental Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 2002-2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Kotera ◽  
P Green ◽  
D Sheffield
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Mental Health Symptoms ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Health Symptoms ◽  
Self Compassion

Abstract Despite high shame about mental health symptoms among UK social work students, positive psychological approaches to their mental health have not been investigated in depth. Emotional resilience has been a core skill in social work practice; however, its relationship with mental health is still unclear. Therefore, the primary purposes of this cross-sectional study were to (i) examine the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs, namely resilience, self-compassion, motivation and engagement and (ii) determine predictors of mental health in UK social work students. An opportunity sampling of 116 UK social work students (102 females, 14 males; 96 undergraduates, 20 postgraduates) completed 5 measures about these constructs. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Mental health was associated with resilience, self-compassion and engagement. Self-compassion was a negative predictor, and intrinsic motivation was a positive predictor of mental health symptoms. Resilience did not predict mental health symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of self-compassion to the challenging mental health of UK social work students; they caution against the overuse and misunderstanding of resilience in the social work field.

scholarly journals Animals and social work: An emerging field of practice for Aotearoa New Zealand

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Walker ◽  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Claire Perry
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Human Animal Bond ◽  
Human Animal

Social work is traditionally human-centered in practice, even though for many the bond between humans and animals is the most fundamental of daily-lived experiences. The intent of this paper is to reflect on the predominant humanistic basis of social work and to consider the growing evidence for developing a wider perspective to incorporate the human-animal connection into social work practice. Joanne Emmens (2007:9) observes that the human-animal bond is considered by some as ‘…too mainstream (in the sense of being lightweight, cliché or sentimental), or as not mainstream enough…as substantial material worthy of study.’ In this article we argue that the human-animal bond is neither sentimental nor fringe and that our attitudes toward this relationship is based on a construction of western thought. To support this we offer a review of literature that provides evidence of good practice that can move social work beyond a purely humanistic approach to a more holistic view resulting in a more comprehensive toolkit for practice. We explore the literature and practice surrounding the place of animals in social work, both in New Zealand and internationally. In addition, we identify some of the ways the human-animal bond is currently utilised in rehabilitation, therapy, as animal assistants and as an indicator of domestic violence within New Zealand. We argue that this area of research and practice is highly relevant for social work as evidence-based practice. The paper con- cludes by offering some suggestions for discussion within the social work profession, and considerations for social work educators, researchers and theorists. 

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