Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Measuring Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In The Child Welfare Workforce, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Some child welfare professionals have stated that there is a critical need for systemic changes to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion, but where do child welfare agencies begin? Although change is never easy, the starting place on the journey to have a diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) workforce is relatively simple. It starts with you—a child welfare supervisor, manager, or administrator. Start by considering what you think you know. Is your knowledge based on perception or data? What experiences shape your perceptions? What tools do you have to measure your workforce? Administrative data sets and surveys that gather both qualitative …

Organizational Needs Assessment: Technical Report, Jo Runke

Organizational Needs Assessments

The DEIB department at Fontbonne was created in June 2022 and is a branch off Multicultural Affairs (MCA). Deanna Williams is the only staff member in the department. The role that Deanna Williams has is to, “produce programs and different workshop opportunities for faculty/staff to learn more about issues surrounding DEIB”. Social Work students at Fontbonne recognized the need to conduct a Needs Assessment to evaluate how needs related to DEIB are being met on campus and if the department involved with DEIB has the resources needed.

The goals of the assessment:

1. Identify the resources needed for the DEIB …

Improving The Child Welfare Workforce Through Training: Common Questions And Evidence-Informed Answers From The Qic-Wd, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Training is often the first intervention child welfare agencies use to address critical workforce development issues. This QIC-Tip aims to answer child welfare agency leaders’ questions about effective training strategies to increase knowledge, enhance skills, and improve job performance. Answers are drawn from the QIC-WD Umbrella Summaries which present a synopsis of the published meta-analyses of specific workforce topics.

What broad-based training approaches can improve employee learning outcomes and job performance?

Coaching uses a structured learning process, over time, to help the learner reach specific goals. Meta-analytic research on the use of professional coaches (not managers or experienced coworkers) …

A Virtue-Care Approach To Spiritually Sensitive Social Work., Ann M. Callahan

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Sensitivity to the importance of spirituality in social work practice has grown over the past thirty years (Kvarfordt, Sheridan, and Taylor, 2017; Oxhandler & Pargament, 2014). Research suggests that social workers often consider spirituality as an expression of cultural diversity, if not inherent to being human (Barker, 2007; Kvarfordt et al., 2017; Lun & Wai, 2015). Depending on how spirituality is defined or experienced, spirituality can be a source of strength or exacerbate suffering, particularly when a client is in crisis (Callahan, 2017). Social workers must be prepared to engage in spiritually sensitive social work (Cunningham & de Saussure, 2019; …

Where Are The African American Males In The Social Work Program, Nicole Arkadie

University Diversity Committee records

This poster presentation discusses the lack of African American males in the social work program at California State University of San Bernardino. It highlights the problem across all the CSU Institutions of significant decrease in Freshman enrollment of African American Males compared to the number of students who were admitted.

Diversity And Social Justice In The Massachusetts Classroom: Teachers Implementation And Students Reflections, Josephine Ciatto

Honors Program Theses and Projects

As public school classrooms have become increasingly diverse and complex, the curriculummust reflect this to prepare students for their futures. When shaping the curriculum that ourstudents receive, it is important to ensure a well rounded, multicultural education even if theclassroom itself does not reflect a diverse community. This qualitative and quantitative, mixedmethod research study looked at the Massachusetts state guidelines concerning diversityeducation and compared it to what teachers say they are implementing in the classroom as wellas with what students say they learned. This mixed method design includes teacher surveys (n=78), teacher interviews (n=4), and student surveys (n=289). The student …

What Do You Bring To The Classroom? – A Look At Approaching Difficult Dialogues, Katherine Holleran

Social Work Theses

This qualitative research study assessed and evaluated experiences of professors from different departments, regarding their encounters with difficult dialogues and the perceived response from students in their classroom through untimed, semi-structured interviews. The interview questions were designed to have an open dialogue with the professor about their experiences in the classroom and how they feel their identities and strategies may have influenced or shaped conversations that took place. The findings include the perspective of four white female professors, one white male professor, and one female professor of color. The results emphasize that there are effective strategies that professors have found …

In The Child's Best Interests: Preparing Culturally Responsive Guardians Ad Litem In Minnesota, Ashley Brown, Emily Camacho, Taneesha Hunter, Skylar Retterath

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Guardians ad litem (GALs) serve and advocate for the most vulnerable children in Minnesota. These individuals make recommendations to the courts which can impact the amount of time children are placed out of their homes. The Guardian ad Litem Board sets the qualifications and training requirements for Guardians ad Litem in Minnesota. Guardians ad litem are currently required to participate in 3 hours per year of continuing education in cultural awareness topics; this amount of training is not adequate in relation to the diversity of the population with which the GALs are working. The importance of cultural responsiveness is significant …

Teaching Students To Be Spiritually Sensitive: Learning From A Spirituality Course Evaluation, Ann M. Callahan, Kalea Benner

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Rationale

The way educators address spirituality can create a sense of community or social isolation. This necessitates a spiritually sensitive approach that enables students to build spiritual competence. Spiritual competence reflects an understanding of how spirituality shapes human behavior, how spiritual diversity manifests and can lead to risk for discrimination, and how to communicate spiritual sensitivity in professional relationships (NASW, 2008, 2007). Research shows that educators have helped students explore themselves and others spiritually (Barker & Floersch, 2010; Johnston, Mamier, Bahjri, Anton, & Petersen; 2008), but more research is needed on how self-reflection informs spiritual competence (Hodge & Derezotes, 2008). …

The Right To Stay Put: City Garden Montessori School And Neighborhood Change, Janine Bologna, Nava Kantor, Yunqing Liu, Samuel Taylor

Center for Social Development Research

This report presents findings from the Listening Project. A collaboration among St. Louis’ Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood Association, the Brown School of Social Work, and the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, the project engaged underrepresented voices in the Forest Park Southeast, Botanical Heights, Tiffany, and Shaw neighborhoods neighborhood to identify priorities for community improvement.

Social Attitudes Of Field Instructors, Bronwyn Cross-Denny, Janna C. Heyman, Yvette M. Sealy, Dana B. Marlowe, Jill Cretella

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

In both the classroom setting and field practicum, social work students begin to develop competence in practice with diverse populations. Field instructors play a critical role in educating students on diversity issues and preparing students to practice without bias. A cross-sectional study was conducted to better understand social attitudes of field instructors participating in a Seminar in Field Instructor (SIFI) training (N=88). The field instructors had generally positive attitudes. Results indicated that field instructors’ comfort level and demographic variables were predictors of social attitudes. Implications for social work field instruction are discussed.

Social Justice Education: Impacts On Social Attitudes, Bronwyn Cross-Denny, Janna C. Heyman

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Paramount to multicultural social work practice is acquiring a comprehensive understanding of oppressed and vulnerable populations who often lack access to healthcare and economic resources. A practitioner’s self-awareness of social attitudes can provide a foundation for developing cultural competency skills. Using a pretest posttest design, social attitudes of Master of Social Work (MSW) students enrolled in a required social justice course were examined (N=85). A repeated-measure MANOVA indicated significant main effects on: 1) within subject factor of time on students’ cognitive attitudes towards racial diversity, affective attitudes toward racial diversity, and women equity following students’ exposure to the social justice …

Discourses For Social Justice Education: The Web Of Racism And The Web Of Resistance, Lisa Werkmeister Rozas, Joshua Miller

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

This article presents two conceptual frames to help with teaching about issues of race and racism. First the concept of the web of racism describes a matrix that helps students understand the depth of damage racism has instilled in contemporary U.S. society. Second, the web of resistance offers a model of anti-racist activities to help students participate in the fight to end systemic racism. The importance of placing racism in a historical context is emphasized as are the differential reactions of white students and students of color to this material.

Silverwire, University Of Maine Center On Aging

Maine Center on Aging Education and Training

The Silverwire Newsletter is a publication that highlights the work of the UMaine Center on Aging. The topics covered in this edition of the Silverwire Newsletter include new grants to expand work in prescription drug issues and affordable housing, student learning, new professional staff members, the Geriatric Practicum Partnership Program, cultural diversity and grandfamilies, elder abuse, finding better alternatives for providing dementia-related care for people with intellectual disabilities, and plans for PEGs/GOLD sessions in the spring.

Shap'n & Shak'n Institutions Of Color, Peter Szto

Social Work Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of institutional racism for higher education. The paper outlines a critique of the race construct as a strategy to advance campus diversity and multicultural learning. The critique provides conceptual clarity and organizing strategies to advance antiracism within institutions.

Teaching Conscientizacao: Helping Social Work Students Raise Their Awareness Levels Of Cultural Diversity, Theresa Barron-Mckeagney, Claudette Lee

Social Work Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Consciousness raising, "conscientizacao" to Paolo Freire, means understanding of self and others. Students of the social work profession devote their professional and personal lives to raising awareness and, through this process, eliminating oppression. Teaching students how to raise their awareness levels and their consciousness can be both a frustrating and exhilarating challenge for the professor.