Missing the Mark: The Image of the Social Work Profession in an African-American Community

Abstract

This exploratory study used a project-developed questionnaire to examine the perceptions of members of an African-American community (N = 102) regarding the social work profession and its commitment to issues pertinent to African-Americans. The results suggested that while the African-American respondents felt that social workers could be a source of help, a considerable amount of the respondents reported that they did not see social workers as being helpful or sensitive to the needs of African-Americans. The results of this study have implications for social work practitioners and educators.

KEYWORDS:

• African-Americans
• public image of social work
• social justice
• African-American history
• social welfare history