I hope you all have a wonderful week! Think about the lunch and learn thing I’ve shared (and maybe even trying to publish, that would be fun!)
Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn
Week five is an asynchronous week, with no in-person class session. We will be exploring multicultural practice, which requires an understanding of both theory and the implementation of practice. This week, students will read about (and take a reading quiz) on multicultural practice. They will also look at the NASW and the indicators for cultural competency that they lay out for social workers. Students will also be able to consider how cultural factors are assessed within diagnostic interviews. During my lecture video, we are just completing the #AMA - the DSM Edition that we ran out of time for in class. The agenda is as follows:
- Week Five Content
- AMA - DMS-5-TR Edition
The Learning Objectives for this Week Include:
- Know the NASW standards for cultural competence
- Practice using tools and strategies for assessing cultural needs
- Understand how multicultural worldviews affect the therapeutic relationship
- Stronger understanding of the DSM
Unit Assignments
Content
- Read Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 4 Multicultural Practice
- Read National Association of Social Workers (2015) Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice
- Read Congress and Kung (2012) Using the _Culturagram to Assess and Empower Culturally Diverse Families_
- Watch my lecture video
- Consider also listening to an episode of the InSocialWork Podcast about Diversity/Cultural Competence
Weekly Online Discussion Forums
The expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can be related to the prompts or building on conversations shared by peers. There are four forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least six replies across any of the forums. These forums include the following:
- As usual, students can reflect on the chapter four reading and the discussion of the vignettes and multicultural practice.
- The textbook provides some specific tools related to multicultural practice, and students can provide an example of using the culturagram or ADDRESSING.
- Some of the questions in last week’s AMA - The DSM edition were about understanding culture related to the DSM. The American Psychiatric Association provides a cultural formulation interview (CFI) and you can engage in a forum learning about it more.
- I want everybody to read the NASW’s Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice, and there is a forum to discuss your findings. It is also a space for students to listen to podcasts about diversity and cultural competency and reflect on them.
Reading Quizzes
Complete W-05 Reading Quiz for Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 04 due by Saturday 9/27, 8:00 AM
Unit Resources
There is an event, Lunch and Learn that is taking place this Friday from 12 to 1 PM. It can be attended in-person (RAU 1701) or virtually. Heritage partners with TIER for doing our Institutional Review Board (IRB). The meeting will introduce TIER, how HU works with them, and suggested best practices for initiating and completing research on HU campus. While you don’t have to go through the IRB process for your case study project, if you wanted to publish it in a scholarly journal (which I would love to help anybody who was interested in that), that would require you to go though the process. This meeting will also be a good introduction to the IRB process, as you will have to submit an application for research next semester.
The textbook provides a good context for how social workers should think about multicultural practice. I have uploaded chapter four for you to read, and will let you know as soon as books come in and you can pick them up.
Congress and Kung (2012) have a chapter in a book on multicultural practice they wrote describing the use of a culturagram. It isn’t too long and provides a good overview of what you would consider for each section. I have attached it as a handout for this week.
I’d like students to also read the National Association of Social Workers’ (2015) Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. Students can also review the inSocialWork Podcast, which you all might consider subscribing to. They have 69 episodes tagged as related to Diversity/Cultural Competence. To find resources about understanding culture related to a diagnostic interview, check out the resources related to DSM-5-TR Online Assessment Measures.
All of the presentations for this class can be found at https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com. This week’s slides are Fall 2025 SOWK 581 Week 05 - The #AMA - DSM-5.
The Lecture Videos tab in the MyHeritage course is where you will be able to find class recordings. The video this week is at Fall 2025 SOWK 581 Week 05.
Reference
Congress, E. P., & Kung, W. W. (2012). Using the culturagram to assess and empower culturally diverse families. In E. P. Congress & M. J. Gonzalez (Eds.), Multicultural perspectives in social work practice with families (3rd ed., pp. 1-20). Springer Publishing Company.
Cooper, M. G., & Granucci Lesser, J. (2022). Clinical social work practice: An integrated approach (6th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
National Association of Social Workers. (2015). Indicators for cultural competence in social work practice. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7dVckZAYUmk%3d&portalid=0
To-Do List
- Read chapter four in the textbook and do the reading quiz
- Review the other content and resources for this week
- Complete six replies across any of the four forums