Beyond the Rhetoric

Culturally effective practice remains elusive within child welfare agencies. Recognizing the hierarchical nature of becoming culturally competent, this article presents specific strategies that enhance cultural effectiveness at the individual, interprofessional, middle management, and upper management levels. The approaches evolve from a five-stage model of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Becoming culturally competent requires a clear assessment of where the individual practitioner and agency are on the change continuum. The article also explores barriers to culturally competent practice, with a focus on multilevel strategies that work within child welfare agencies.

Ngā Aroro and Social Work Supervision

INTRODUCTION: This article explores the interconnectivity between Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) concepts and supervision.METHOD: The main focus of the research was to highlight ngā aroro (key concepts) from Te Ao Māorii that influence critical reflection in supervision and the cultural effectiveness of supervision. The embedding of kaupapa Māori (Māori approaches) research principles and ethics meant that the methodology provided a supportive shelter for consciousness-raising, critical dialogue, reflection on supervision practice and for oral cultural narrative to be honoured. A unique part of the methodology was the inclusion of a Whakawhanaungatanga Research Advisory Roopu, which provided the necessary cultural oversight of the research.FINDINGS: The research used a thematic analysis that brought to light six conceptual themes from Te Ao Māori to unlock heightened holistic learning and support in supervision practice. The findings revealed that customary knowledge, skills and methods were purposefully accessedto enable the re-indigenising of social work supervision. The conceptual frameworks showed elements of co-design, an awakened spiritual awareness and a desire to explore one’s cultural sense of self.IMPLICATIONS: The research challenges the conventions of social work supervision to review supervision theory and practice particularly in considering the strengths of supervision provided by non-registered social work supervisors and the cultural effectiveness of supervision being developed, measured and evaluated based on the supervision goals of the supervisee and indigenous aspirations.

A qualitative study of the perceived effectiveness of refugee services among consumers, providers, and interpreters

This study explored the perceptions of accessibility and cultural effectiveness of refugee services in the northeast region of the United States from refugees, interpreters who work with refugees in accessing these services, and the providers of the refugee services. The study examined the perceptions of 51 refugees from 10 countries, five individual interviews with providers and 26 provider survey responses representing 31 different agencies, and four interviews from interpreters. Qualitative interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule, were audiotaped, and transcribed. Further data were collected through a survey. All data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis. Participants shared feelings of frustration that services seemed poorly coordinated among the agencies and that the agencies appeared ill-prepared for the unique experiences of separate refugee groups. The three perspectives of refugee service delivery, as a consumer, a provider, or an interpreter, shared the perception that there was not a mechanism for the different services to collaborate effectively with each other, to create a network of coordinated services that would enhance services while decreasing burdens on individual centers, nor was there a system to best prepare the centers for new refugees.

White Ethnic Groups

Research on White ethnics is lacking in the diversity literature; when included, they are used as the comparison for other ethnic groups. Diversity exists among White ethnics; consequences of ignoring these differences include culturally insensitive and inappropriate treatment, misunderstanding clients, and poor therapeutic alliances. The heterogeneity within the White ethnic population and strategies for gaining cultural information and demonstrating cross-cultural effectiveness are discussed.