Building Culturally Competent Social Work Field Practicum Students through the Integration of Campinha-Bacote's Cultural Competence Healthcare Model

Diversity and Difference in Practice: CSWE Competencies As the focus of this paper is on assisting internship students in achieving the educational objectives of field practice regarding work with persons with diverse identities, the brief discussion will cover the Council on Social Work Education's (CSWE) threshold for professional competence regarding students' engagement with diversity and difference in practice.The CSWE indicates that one of the purposes of social work education is to prepare "social workers to practice without discrimination, with respect, and with knowledge and skills related to clients' age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation," and charges that graduates must demonstrate the ability to practice in such a manner, as it is one of the specific purposes of the social work profession (CSWE, 2001, p. 5). As such, the main point of convergence regarding the development of students' abilities to work with diverse groups in social work education, including field instruction, were reflected in the CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) (Congress, Black, & Strom-Gottfried, 2009; CSWE, 2008). The EPAS has outlined core competencies to guide students in attaining proficient knowledge. According to the EPAS, competencies are measurable practice behaviors that consist of the enhancement of students' knowledge, values, and skills. The goal of these outcomes is to demonstrate the integration and application of the competencies in practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities (CSWE, E.P. 2.1, 2008). Specifically, Educational Policy 2.1. 4 calls for students to develop personal and professional awareness of how diversity characterizes and shapes the human experience (CSWE, 2008). Because social work field education is identified as the central instruction and learning model in which experienced professionals are selected as field instructors to socialize the student to perform the role of practitioner (EPAS, E.P. 2.3, CSWE, 2008; Bogo, 2005), the EPAS proposed that, by completion of the field experience, students would be better able to:. recognize the extent to which a culture's structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power . gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse groups . recognize and communicate their understanding of the importance of difference in shaping life experiences . view themselves as learners and engage those with whom they work as informants" (E.P. 2.1.4, 2008, p. 5). According to the EPAS, such activities are critical to the formation of students' future identities (EPAS, E.P. 2.1.4, CSWE, 2008). In light of these expectations, the central focus is on student performance in the field, related to the demonstration of CSWE competencies and practice behaviors as preparation for entering the social work profession (Tapp, Macke, & McLendon, 2012). There are a number of models that have been developed to enhance cultural competence (Green, 1982; McGoldrick, Giordano & Pearce, 2005; Dungee-Anderson & Beckett, 1994; Schiele, 1996; McPhatter, 1997; Purnell, 2002; Papadopoulos, Tilki, & Taylor, 1998); this paper will describe the Campinha-Bacote model and its application to the field practicum. Integration of the Campinha-Bacote Cultural Competence Practice Model into Social Work Field Practicum Settings The Campinha-Bacote framework of Culturally Competent Healthcare encompasses five cultural constructs: awareness, knowledge, skill, encounter, and desire. Using these components, the Campinha-Bacote model emphasizes that the acquisition of cultural competence is "a process, not an end point. " As such, it is proposed that cultural competence knowledge-building on the part of internship students be approached as an ongoing and instructive process in which learning encompasses continual evolution (Campinha-Bacote, 2002). …