This article provides a detailed review of the historical and theoretical context in which culturally competent practice has evolved in the social work profession and enables educators and practitioners to see holistic connections between the past and present. Historical review of the inclusion of diversity content is followed by definitions of culture, cultural competence, and culturally competent practice. We then provide a synthesis of different frameworks currently being used for understanding the development of cultural competence in psychology and social work, and conclude with discussion and implications for social work education and practice.
This study assesses the relationship between the presence of Oregon volunteer long-term care ombudsmen and externally handled abuse complaints, survey reports, and regulatory sanctions. In 1987, new amendments to the Older Americans Act mandated long-term care ombudsmen access to nursing homes. No studies have systematically examined the relationship between these empowered ombudsmen programs and regulatory abuse investigations, survey findings, or sanction activities. Contrary to pre-1987 studies, this research found that the presence of ombudsmen was related to increased abuse reporting and abuse complaint substantiations, more survey deficiencies, and higher sanction activity.
Using paid staff and/or volunteers, long-term care ombudsman programs are charged with resolving complaints and solving problems that affect elderly persons in a variety of long-term care settings. This paper reports the results of a content analysis of annual ombudsman program reports sent to the Administration on Aging from 49 states in 1990. We found substantial variation in the documented information at both state and local levels and recommend revising the reporting system.
This paper reports on the last of three National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization initiatives to move hospice and palliative care social workers into the patient/family outcomes arena: the development of the Social Work Assessment Tool. The experience of a team of practitioners and researchers is described, including results of two pilot studies and subsequent SWAT revisions. The major focus is on the current model performance improvement project, in which 19 social workers from 14 hospice and palliative care programs used the SWAT with 101 patients and 81 primary caregivers for a median of 44 days. Quantitative analysis indicated significant improvement in SWAT scores for patients from the first to the second social work visit (t = -2.60, df = 47, p .01). Qualitative interviewing of the social workers indicated some lack of readiness in the field to conduct quantitative outcomes measurement. Additional measures are needed in addition to the SWAT, including qualitative measures, and measures of mezzo and macro practice. Participants indicated that the SWAT was appropriate for use with economically and culturally diverse clients.
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