Adapting Social Work in Working with Muslim Clients

Abstract

Current social work education programmes and textbooks often underestimate the hypothesis that providing effective services to different cultural groups requires cultural understanding. One approach that has been recommended is the localization of social work: using a fundamentally different social work knowledge base and approach with different cultural groups. To date, however, little scholarship considers how to localize social work in working with Muslim communities. On the basis of interviews with over 50 social service providers in Canada who work with Muslim clients, the present article provides insight into strategies and methods that involve localizing social work in Muslim communities, focusing on possible client characteristics, challenges, and needs from the perspective of the practising social worker. Issues of racism, spirituality, acculturation, help seeking, and client expectations of service are particularly relevant. Properly responding to these factors ultimately involves the coordinated efforts of educational institutions, agencies, and social workers, but none of this will be possible without a thorough understanding of cultural values meaningful to Muslim clients.

Keywords:

• Cultural Competence
• Professional Practice
• Localization
• Education
• Muslim Clients

Notes

1. Selection was restricted to within agencies or among practitioners that have an explicitly Muslim focus and/or whose clients are over 70% Muslim in background.

2. Suitable sources that can be used for this purpose include John L. Esposito's Islam: The Straight Path (1988), as well as Chapters 12–14 in Theodore M. Ludwig's The Sacred Paths of the West (2006).