Assessing Cultural Competence in a BSW Student Population
Bachelor’s level social workers serve a population that is becoming more diverse. Social work educators must respond with adapted teaching methods, theories, and exercises to reflect the growing need for cultural competence in our practitioners. The 2015 Educational Policy and
Accreditation Standards (EPAS) outline the knowledge, value, and skills competencies central to social work education. These competencies include thorough integration of cultural competence in social work education; the ways in which this content is taught likely vary greatly between programs.
This study assessed whether students gained competence as a result of taking a bachelor’s level social work (BSW) course in cultural diversity at a mid-sized public university. Furthermore, the study assessed whether their level of competence was related to student demographics, such
as being from an urban or rural community. One hundred twenty-three students completed the California Brief Multicultural Competence Scale (CBMCS) at the beginning and end of a course specifically dedicated to cultural competence. Results indicate that the course itself is effective in increasing
significantly student’s self-reported cultural competence. Study results lay the foundation for future research that will (1) assess more broadly the implications of a specific cultural competence course and (2) aid in the development of a social work-specific measure of cultural competence.
Keywords: Cultural competency; competency; diversity; evaluation; quantitative methods
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Department of Social Work, California University of PA, California, PA, USA 2: Department of Social Work, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH, USA 3: Department of Social Work, Central State University, Wilberforce, OH, USA 4: Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Publication date: 17 August 2016
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