Testing a Curriculum to Teach Cultural Competence to Non-Mainstream College Students Interning in Mainstream Agencies

ABSTRACT

Cultural competence, from the perspective of students of color interning in mainstream agencies, was emphasized in a curriculum piloted in an undergraduate practicum seminar. Student interns who read a chapter on cultural competence in a standard textbook in lieu of receiving the curriculum served as the comparison group. Results indicated that student interns who took the curriculum were more prone to see problems in intercultural communication as systemic and more likely to feel competent handling possible racial discrimination in their field placement than were students in the comparison group.

Key Words:

• Cultural competence
• social work education
• students of color
• field experience
• internships
• human services