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January 26, 2006
TO: NASW
Members
FROM: Chair, National Committee on Racial
and Ethnic Diversity
RE: Indicators
for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice
Proposed Indicators for levels of achievement of the NASW Standards on
Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice Developed by the NASW National
Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity
This document of proposed indicators for cultural competence is a product
of the National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (NCORED). The recommendations
presented herein are posted for members’ review and discussion. Comments
are welcomed and should be sent to ccncored@naswdc.org within
60 days (no later than April 21, 2006).
The committee will be revising the contents of this document in preparation
of its final submission to the national Board of Directors for approval. We
value your input. Please take time to look the document over, discuss it with
your colleagues if possible and give us your recommendations and comments.
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
The NASW Standards on Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice were
first presented in draft form to NASW members attending a Town Hall Meeting
sponsored by The National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (NCORED)
during Social Work 2000 in Baltimore Maryland. NASW members requested that
NCORED follow-up their accomplishments by developing outcome measures that
could serve as guideposts to achieving levels of cultural competency by social
workers. The discussion centered on the need for self-asessment tools for individual
social workers, for supervisors to be able to assess their social work employees’ cultural
competency levels, and for agency administrators to understand how culturally
competent their services are. The same issue was also raised during the public
comment period for the Standards.
Today’s most frequently asked questions in the field of cultural competency
are:
- How do we know when we achieve cultural competency?
- How do we know
where we are on a cultural competency continum?
We have anecdotal information that faculties in schools of social work are
also striving to teach cultural competency skills and that many are using the
NASW Standards in their efforts.
Having developed the Standards of Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice,
an historical accomplishment for the profession, NCORED drafted indicators
for each cultural competence standard. The NASW Board of Directors has provided
comments and feedback on the draft document. We ask for your comments
as well. Please give special attention to how this document could serve as
an effective evaluative tool.
The attached Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice are
grounded on the principles, standards, and values specified in the NASW and
social work profession’s mission, NASW Code of Ethics (1999), and NASW
Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice (2001). Consistent
with these foundations, the Indicators help make practical precisely what NASW’s
Preamble to the Code of Ethics says: “. . . Social workers are
sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination,
oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice. . . .” (NASW
Code of Ethics (1999), p. 1).
The indicators contained herein focus on the achievement of culturally competent
practice at all levels and are infused and integrated throughout all areas
of practice. In this document, definitions specified in the NASW Code
of Ethics will apply throughout, as follows:
Areas of Practice: “These activities may be in the form
of direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation, administration,
advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation,
education, and research and evaluation.” (NASW Code of Ethics (1999),
p. 1).
Clients: “‘Clients’ is used inclusively to
refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.” (NASW
Code of Ethics (1999), p. 1).
Standard 1: Ethics and Values
Social workers shall function in accordance with the values, ethics, and standards
of the profession, recognizing how personal and professional values may conflict
with or accommodate the needs of diverse populations.
Culturally competent social workers will demonstrate:
- Knowledge of the NASW Code of Ethics.
- Ability to describe areas of
conflict and accommodation between personal values, professional values and
that of other cultures.
- Ability to recognize the convergence and disparity
between the values of the dominant society and the values of the historically
oppressed under-represented and underserved populations.
- Appreciation and
respect of differences and strengths in culture
- Awareness
of the dilemmas they may encounter when they recognize the needs of diverse
clients in domains such as:
- Boundaries
- Norms of behavior
- Advocacy
- Controversial Issues (i.e. abortion, gay, lesbian)
- Dual relations
Standard 2: Self Awareness
Social Workers shall develop an understanding of their own personal and
cultural values and beliefs as a first step in appreciating the importance
of multicultural identities in the lives of people.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Examine and describe their cultural background and identities to increase
awareness of assumptions, values, beliefs and biases and determine how these
impact services and influence relationship with clients.
- Identify how ignorance,
fears, and “isms” (within the multicultural
spectrum such as racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, heterosexualism, ageism,
classism) or other factors such as homophobia, and religious background have
influenced their attitudes, beliefs, and feelings.
- Demonstrate an awareness
of personal or professional limitations that may warrant the referral of
a client or organization to another resource that can better meet their needs.
- Demonstrate
increased comfort with self- and other-awareness about cultural customs and
views of the world.
Standard 3: Cross-Cultural Knowledge
Social workers shall have and continue to develop knowledge and understanding
about the history, traditions, values, family systems and artistic expressions
of major client groups served.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Expand their cultural knowledge and expertise by studying:
- The help-seeking behaviors of diverse client groups
- The historical context of diverse communities
- The role of language, speech patterns and communication styles of diverse
client groups
- The impact of social service policies on diverse groups served
- The resources such as agencies, people, informal helping networks and
research that can be mobilized on behalf of diverse clients
- Possess specific knowledge about the client groups which they serve, and
about the traditional and non-traditional providers they use including:
- Historical experiences, resettlement patterns, individual and group
oppression, adjustment styles, socioeconomic backgrounds, life processes,
- Learning styles, cognitive skills, world-views, and specific cultural
concerns and practices
- Their definitions of and beliefs about the causation of wellness and
illness or normality and abnormality; and how care and services should
be delivered.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the power relationships in the
community and institutions, and how these impact diverse groups.
- Possess
specific knowledge about US, global, social, cultural, and political systems,
and how they operate and how they serve or fail to serve client groups. These
groups include institutional, class, culture, and language barriers to service.
- Identify
the limitations and strengths of current theories, practice models, and select
which have applicability and relevance to the diverse groups with which they
work.
- Transfer awareness of personal heritage to becoming culturally aware
of the culture and heritage of others.
- Describe how privilege is manifested
by people within different dominant groups
- Describe the effects that dominant
and non-dominant status plays in the workplace regarding interpersonal relations
and group dynamics
- Distinguish between intentional and unintentional assertion
of privilege and manifestation of institutionalization of “isms”.
- Describe
how group membership in the context of world-view is associated with patterns
of privilege and internalized oppression
- Understand the interaction of the
cultural systems of the social worker, client, the particular setting, and
the broader immediate community.
Standard 4. Cross Cultural Skills
Social workers shall use appropriate methodological approaches, skills,
and techniques that reflect the workers’ understanding of the role
of culture in the helping process.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Engage a wide range of persons who are culturally different or similar
to themselves
- Display proficiency in discussing cultural difference, and helping clients
to be comfortable with these discussions.
- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of clients in which cultural norms and
behaviors are differentiated from problematic or symptomatic behaviors
- Assess cultural strengths and limitations, and their impact on individual
and group functioning, integrating this understanding into intervention plans
- Select and develop appropriate methods, skills and techniques that are
attuned to their clients’ cultural, bicultural or marginal experiences
in their environments
- Adapt and use a variety of culturally proficient models
- Communicate effectively with culturally and linguistically different clients
through language acquisition, proper use of interpreters, verbal and nonverbal
skills, and culturally appropriate protocols.
- Where clinically appropriate
employ the clients’ natural support
system in resolving problems, for example, folk healers, indigenous remedies,
storefronts, religious leaders, friends, family and other community residents
and organizations
- Advocate, negotiate, and employ empowerment skills in their
work with clients
- Consult
with supervisors and colleagues for feedback and monitoring of performance,
and identify features of their own professional style that impede or enhance
their culturally competent practice
Standard 5. Service Delivery
Social workers shall
be knowledgeable about and skillful in the use of services available in the
community and broader society and be able to make appropriate referrals for
their diverse clients.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Identify the formal and informal resources in the community, describe their
strengths and weaknesses, and facilitate referrals as indicated, tailored
to the culturally relevant needs of the client.
- Actively advocate for and
cooperate with efforts to create culturally competent services and programs,
including
- Actively recruiting multi-ethnic staff and including cultural competence
requirements in job descriptions and performance and promotion measures
- Reviewing the current and emergent demographic trends for the geographic
area served by the agency to determine service needs for the provision
of interpretation and translation services
- Creating service delivery systems or models that are more appropriate
to the targeted client populations or advocating for the creation of such
services
- Including participation by clients as major stakeholders in the development
of service delivery systems
- Ensuring that program decor and design is reflective of the cultural
heritage of clients and families using the service
- Attending to social issues (for example, housing, education, police,
and social justice) that concern clients of diverse backgrounds
- Not accepting staff remarks that insult or demean clients and their culture
- Supporting the inclusion of cultural competence standards in accreditation
bodies and organizational policies as well as in licensing and certification
examinations
- Developing staffing plans that reflect the organization and the targeted
client population (for example, hiring, position descriptions, performance
evaluations, training)
- Developing performance measures to assess culturally competent practice
- Participation of client groups in the development of research and treatment
protocols.
- Culturally competent programs, organizations, and service
systems build culturally competent organizations through:
- Effective recruitment of multilingual and multicultural staff
- Staff composition reflecting the diversity of the client population
- Service planning strategy that includes an assessment of the demographics
and demographic trends of the service community
- Expanded service capacity to improve the breadth and depth of services
to a greater variety of cultural groups
- Meaningful inclusion of clients representing relevant cultural groups
and/or community members representing relevant cultural groups in decision-making
and advisory governance entities, program planning, program evaluation,
and research endeavors.
- Physical plant designed and decorated in a manner that is welcoming
to the diverse cultural groups served
- Engagement in advocacy to improve social issues relevant to client
group
- A work climate, through formal and informal means, that addresses workforce
diversity challenges and promotes respect for clients and colleagues
of different backgrounds
- Documented advocacy for culturally competent policies and procedures
of accrediting, licensing, certification bodies, contracting agencies,
etc.
- Inclusion of cultural competency as a component of human resource management – job
descriptions, performance evaluations, promotions and training, etc.
Standard 6. Empowerment and Advocacy
Social workers shall be aware of the effect of social policies and programs
on diverse client populations, advocating for and with clients whenever appropriate.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Advocate for public policies that honor the cultural values, norms and
behaviors of diverse groups.
- Select appropriate intervention strategies
to help colleagues, collaborating partners, and institutional representatives
examine their own conscious or unconscious manifestations of an “ism”,
exclusionary behaviors, or oppressive policies.
- Assess level of readiness
for feedback and intervention of the dominant group member
- Select either
education, dialogue, increased intergroup contact, social advocacy, or
social action as a strategy
- Participate in social advocacy and social
action to better empower diverse clients and communities at the local,
state, and/or national level
- Use practice
methods and approaches that facilitate the client to connect with their
own power in a manner that is appropriate for their cultural context
- Provide
support to diverse cultural groups who are advocating on their own behalf
- Avoid
imposing personal values during empowerment work with clients.
- Demonstrate
intentional effort to assure that they do not to impose their own personal
values in practice.
Standard 7. Diverse Workforce
Social workers shall support and advocate for recruitment, admissions
and hiring, and retention efforts in social work programs and agencies that
ensure diversity within the profession.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Advocate for and support human resource policies and procedures that ensure
diversity and inclusion within their organization.
- Work to achieve a workforce
and organization that reflects the demographics of the population served
throughout all levels of the organization.
- Advocate for and support policies
that assure equity and appropriate compensations for social workers who bring
special skill or knowledge to the profession, such as bicultural and bilingual
skills or American Sign Language skills.
- Advocate for and support recruitment
and retention strategies to social work programs and schools of social work
that increase the diversity within the profession.
- Promote and maintain the
expectation that all staff regardless of cultural membership continuously
engage in the process of improving cultural proficiency and capacity to serve
a variety of populations.
Culturally competent organizations will:
- Have in place human resource and other organizational policies and procedures
that support staff diversity.
- Regularly monitor the extent to which their management
and staff composition reflect the diversity of the client population.
- Take
corrective action as appropriate and refocus recruitment efforts. Review
their selection policies for inadvertent exclusion of the underrepresented,
underserved, and oppressed cultural group.
- Regularly monitor and take remedial
action as needed to ensure that client groups may receive services in their
native language.
- Actively recruit and seek to retain multilingual staff
- Provide “second language” courses
to existing staff
- Provide appropriate compensations for social workers who
bring special language skill or knowledge to the profession, such as
bicultural and bilingual skills or American Sign Language skills.
- Include cultural competency
as a requirement for job performance, by including these requirements in
job descriptions, performance evaluations, promotions, and training.
- Foster
a work climate, through formal and informal means, that addresses workforce
diversity challenges and promotes respect for clients and colleagues of different
backgrounds.
- Establish cultural norms of openness and respect for discussing
situations in which insensitive or exclusionary behaviors were experienced.
Standard 8: Professional Education
Social workers
shall advocate for and participate in educational and training programs that
help advance cultural competence within the profession.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Promote professional education programs that advance cultural competency
within the profession.
- Advocate the infusion and integration of cultural competency
standards in social work curricula and research in the BSW, MSW, and Ph.D.
levels.
- Conduct research that adds to cultural competency knowledge
- Advocate state-of-the
art professional education on diversity and work with diverse populations.
- Train
staff in cross-cultural communication, culturally diverse customs, and techniques
for resolving racial, ethnic or cultural conflicts between staff and the
clients served.
Culturally competent organizations will:
- Provide ongoing training and support for improving cultural competency
skills to all employees, including top management, middle management, front
line supervisors, front-line staff, and administrative/custodial staff.
- Resolve
racial, ethnic or cultural conflicts between staff and the clients served
and among employees within the organization itself.
- Conduct evaluation research
to determine their effectiveness in serving or interacting with client groups
from different populations.
Standard 9: Language Diversity
Social workers shall seek to provide and advocate for the provision of information,
referrals, and services in the language appropriate to the client, which may
include the use of interpreters.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Demonstrate an understanding that language is part of the total identity
of a client.
- Advocate for rights of individuals and groups to receive resources in their
own language.
- Provide and advocate for information, referrals, and services in appropriate
language for the client.
- Provide jargon-free print materials in easy to read,
low literacy, and picture and symbol formats for individuals with limited
English proficiency
- Advocate for the preservation and appreciation of language
diversity among clients.
- Advocate for reasonable accommodations of the client’s
language needs, including the provision of professional sign language interpreters
and translators.
- Improve their own linguistic proficiency.
- Understand that words and phrases,
especially those translated from one language to another, or one region of
the country to another, may have different meanings, and check to ensure
accurate communications when working with client groups.
Standard 10: Cross-Cultural Leadership
Social workers shall be able to communicate information about diverse client
groups to other professionals.
Culturally competent social workers will:
- Take leadership roles within the profession to promote cultural competence
within the profession.
- Take leadership roles in communicating and disseminating information on
cultural competency and diverse clients to other professionals through activities
such as serving on committees, making presentations writing articles, developing
guidelines, and conducting research.
- Take leadership roles in empowering diverse clients to assume advocacy
roles within own organization and in the community
- Advocate fair and equitable treatment for diverse groups in and outside
of profession.
- Create a proactive process that empowers individuals, families, groups,
organizations, and communities.
- Establish strategies for people and organizations within the profession
to share information and learning with one another on how to engage in culturally
competent behavior and promote culturally competent practices and policies.
- Model culturally competent behavior in their interactions with client groups,
other professionals, and each other.
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