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Exploring Regional Differences In Social Work Pedagogy: Attitudes Toward Poverty, Michael L. Burford, Peter A. Kindle, Laura Brierton Granruth, Elena Delavega, David H. Johnson, Susan Peterson, Mary Caplan

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This study explores regional differences in student learning outcomes from pre and post-test surveys of undergraduate and first year graduate social work students (N = 373) enrolled in a social welfare policy class at six different CSWE accredited institutions. As expected, overall results showed a shift in student attitudes away from a personal deficiency explanation for poverty, a decline in stigmatization of poverty, and toward a more structural explanation for the causes of poverty, but significant differences were reported by geographical region. Future research should explore the instructor, pedagogical, and geographical factors that may help of hinder attitudinal preparation …