Exploring the Effectiveness of Teaching Techniques with Lesbian and Gay Content in the Social Work Curriculum

Abstract

This study investigated the levels of homophobia before and after a single lecture on the topic in one undergraduate and two graduate social work classes. Using the Index of Attitudes Towards Homosexuals (IAH), pretest levels of homophobia were found to exceed the cutting point of 50 for 75% of the students in the undergraduate class. Although pretest-posttest mean scores were not found to be statistically significant, the percentage of students exceeding the IAH cutting score decreased in all three courses following a single lecture. The effect of two additional teaching units in the undergraduate course is discussed as well as recommendations for future research.

Social work students' attitudes towards gay men and lesbians in Namibia: Results from an exploratory study

“…Accordingly, social work education efforts, especially in the Namibian context, would be well-served by involving personal stories and face-to-face examples given first-hand by LGBT people. In other contexts this education strategy has been associated with improved attitudes among social work students (Cramer, Oles, and Black 1997;Cramer 1997;Dongvillo and Ligon 2001;Chonody, Siebert, and Rutledge 2009). …”

The State of the Social Work Profession: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Antigay Bias

“…Four studies indicated 50% or more, but less than 70%, white participants in the study sample (Black et al, 1996;Black et al, 1998;Logie et al, 2007;Sun, 2002). Three studies did not report race (Dongvillo & Ligon, 2001;Floyd & Gruber, 2011;Tate, 1991). Similar to the disparities in racial composition, most of the studies had an overrepresentation of women.…”

“…Six studies focused on changing students' attitudes through participation in a pedagogical intervention or social work course work (Bassett & Day 2003;Black, Oles, Cramer, & Bennett, 1999;Black, Oles, & Moore, 1996;Cramer, 1997;Cramer, Oles, & Black, 1997;Dongvillo & Ligon, 2001).…”

“…Types of intervention that were tested included disclosure of sexual orientation by the instructor (Cramer, 1997;Dongvillo & Ligon, 2001), content on GL infused into the course work (Bassett & Day, 2003), information and contact with GL individuals , GL peer panel (Black et al, 1999), and social work education (Black et al, 1996). Four studies examined differences between social work and non-social work students (Cluse-Tolar, LGBT = Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered.…”

“…Ten of the studies had samples composed of only undergraduate students (Black et al, 1999;Cluse-Tolar et al, 2004;Floyd & Gruber, 2011;Raiz & Saltzburg, 2007;Sun, 2002;Swank & Raiz, 2007, 2010aTate, 1991). Eight studies had samples representing graduate students only (Bassett & Day, 2003;Cramer, 1997;Dongvillo & Ligon, 2001;Logie et al, 2007;Newman et al, 2002;Seelman & Walls, 2010;Snively et al, 2004;Wallenberg et al, 2011). However, Snively and colleagues (2004) included a sample of non-adult students.…”