How MSW Graduates Apply What they Learned about Diversity to their Work with Small Groups

Abstract

Reported are the findings of a nationwide survey of agency-based social workers with MSW degrees. Subjects were asked questions about their sociocultural identities, exposure to diversity content in their programs of study, the most and least common types of diversity present in the groups with which they work, and the intervention strategies they apply to group dynamics engendered by member differences. Most respondents indicated that their use of diversity factors with clients was limited; many posited that, although they had been exposed to substantial curricular content on diversity, they found it difficult to apply to “real” clients.