The impact of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI): cultivating cultural humility among social work students

ABSTRACT

Cultural humility, understanding others’ culture and the impact of one’s own culture on interactions with others, is recognized in many professions as a requirement for effective practice. However, cultural humility is difficult to define and even more elusive to measure. In an exploratory study of social work students, a National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) diversity issues workshop was used during program orientation to introduce participants to the importance of understanding one’s own culture and its potential impact on future practice. The intent was to ‘prime’ students’ thinking for course content, class discussions, and practicum experiences. The authors created an instrument to measure the potential impact of the workshop. The results of that study are reported here along with implications for future research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• cultural competence
• cultural humility
• social work education
• diversity training
• diversity

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of colleagues to the development and conduct of this study: Bria Marcelo, Lindsay Jarratt, Kate Kemp, Sandra McGee, Bhawana Koirala. The authors would also like to thank the student participants and the faculty who facilitated data collection.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Dickinson

Dr. Dickinson is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa, where she teaches practice courses across both the undergraduate and graduate levels.  She practices as a play therapist, specializing in treating trauma.

Motier Haskins

Motier is an Instructional Track Lecturer at the University of Iowa, teaching primarily diversity courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Jeanne A. Saunders

Dr. Saunders is an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, where her teaching areas included social work research, policy, and program development.