Student Attitudes Toward Religious Diversity and Implications for Multicultural Competence

Abstract

In this article we present the findings from a survey of Master of Social Work (MSW) students regarding their attitudes toward religion in social work practice and their feelings of competence when working with clients who are Muslim. Our findings indicated that some students are uncomfortable working with Muslim groups. Interestingly, those students who are minority and non-Christian appear to identify with other oppressed groups and expressed attitudes of greater comfort and tolerance than their White and Christian counterparts. This suggests a need for a more comprehensive view of multicultural practice in social work education perhaps with a focus on cultural humility.

Cultural competence and cultural humility: A critical reflection on key cultural diversity concepts

“…Whatever its appeal, cultural humility has yet to excite widespread interest in social work. To date, only a few social work articles (Abell et al., 2015; Duntley-Matos, 2014; Fisher-Borne et al., 2015; NASW, 2015; Ortega & Faller, 2011; Schuldberg et al., 2012) focus explicitly on cultural humility. That scholarship on cultural humility is almost lacking in social work 20 years after its emergence may be due to the fact that the core elements of the construct are not new to the discipline.…”

“…The bourgeoning scholarship on cultural humility in healthcare may suggest that AOP is not as widely known in that field as it is in social work. Remarkably, the social work scholarship on cultural humility (e.g., Abell et al., 2015; Ortega & Faller, 2011) has promoted the concept as if it was entirely novel in the profession. If cultural humility is nothing more than AOP by another name, what distinguishes it as an innovative framework to supplant cultural competence or be hailed as a new diversity paradigm?…”

“…Cultural competence has been blamed for the tendency to be tokenistic (Furlong & Wight, 2011; Herring, Spangaro, Lauw, & McNamara, 2013); for assuming that the worker is from a dominant culture; for treating culture as a neutral phenomenon; and for lacking power analysis (Garran & Rozas, 2013; Sakamoto, 2007). Many critics, especially healthcare practitioners and some social workers (Abell, Manuel, & Schoeneman, 2015; Duntley-Matos, 2014; Kools, Chimwaza, & Macha, 2015; Lund & Lee, 2015; Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998; Yeager & Bauer-Wu, 2013) have called for the replacement of cultural competence with cultural humility.…”

Measuring religious and spiritual competence across helping professions: Previous efforts and future directions.

“…However, this instrument has established content validity; comprehensively covers the role of the practitioners' RS, clients' RS, and use of RS in practice; and has been adapted for other professions, including psychology (Hahn Cassidy, 2006;Merchant, 2009) and social work (Abell, Manuel, & Schoeneman, 2015). Young, Wiggins-Frame, and Cashwell (2007) also did a follow-up study with ACA members using a modified version with the final nine counselor-based competencies from W. R. Miller (1999), but neither reliability nor validity was assessed.…”