What Contributes to Meaningful Experiences in Social Work Field Education?: Perspectives of Students of Color

ABSTRACT

Despite the importance of field in social work education, little is known about the specific experiences of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students in field placements. In this qualitative study with 42 social work students, we explored what factors contribute to meaningful experiences in field. Findings include: (a) connection to the practice area or community being served, (b) the importance of relationships with field instructors, including BIPOC field instructors; and (c) supportive agency context. Implications of this study support the recruitment and retention of BIPOC field instructors, continuing to build field instructors’ capacity to engage with issues of race, identity, and oppression, ongoing attention to agency context, and building more robust research regarding racial equity in field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, BUILD EXITO Faculty Pilot Grant/NIH/NIGMS grant# UL1GM118964.

Notes on contributors

Gita R. Mehrotra

Gita R. Mehrotra is an associate professor at Portland State University. Anita R. Gooding is an assistant professor at the University of Portland.