Social Work Education & Support of Gender Expansive People: A Qualitative Analysis of MSW Student Experiences

ABSTRACT

This study examined Master of Social Work (MSW) student experiences with social work education related to support of transgender, nonbinary, queer or other gender expansive people. Sixty-seven students from a sample of thirty-four MSW programs in the United States provided brief qualitative reflections on their educational experiences related to gender identity or expression. Thematic content analysis of these data revealed five primary emergent themes related to; MSW program capacity, persistent bias/tension, safety issues, emotional and academic burden, and lived-experiences external to social work education. Findings suggest there remains a disconnect between the stated intent of social work to support gender expansive communities and the reality of social work education. Specifically, although most students appear to want more from their schools of social work regarding trans-affirming education, most programs reflect persistent discomfort with this domain, or a hesitance or inability to address the topic appropriately and consistently. Examples of how social work education might work to improve its capacity to reflect support of gender expansive people and communities are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• MSW
• social work education
• transgender
• gender identity

Consent to participate

All human participants in this research were provided informed consent information, and all participants consented to participate in the study.

Disclosure statement

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

Ethical statement

I hereby submit that this manuscript is the original work of the two authors, and does not duplicate any previously published work, including previously published work of the authors. The research reported here has met all ethical guidelines and meets all legal requirements of the United States. As such, the human subjects research reported in this manuscript was evaluated and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Illinois, Chicago (#2014-0133). The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. This manuscript has only been submitted to the journal Homosexuality and is not under consideration or peer review elsewhere. This work contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent or illegal.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.