Training for Cultural Competence

Abstract

This paper reviews the experience of evaluating a cultural competence workshop series for social workers practicing in a mental health care setting. The study used a pretest-posttest nonequivalent comparison group design, and evaluation was based on both quantitative and qualitative data collections. Between subjects analyses suggested that there were no differences between the intervention and comparison group after the intervention was completed, but within-subjects analyses revealed that the intervention group had made superior gains in their scores on the Awareness subscale of the Multicultural Counseling Inventory. Qualitative data contributed additional information about important individual and group processes that affected the experience of training and contributed to self-reported outcomes from training. The study suggests that evaluating process and outcomes of training at both the individual and group levels may be particularly important to understanding how cultural competence develops for social work practitioners in interdisciplinary settings.

Key Words:

• Cultural competence
• workshops
• mental health care
• interdisciplinary settings
• racial and ethnic diversity