A Study of Factors that Influence Cultural Competence in Field Education for MSW Students

Overview: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence graduating MSW students’ perceptions about their level of cultural competence when working with diverse populations in field internships. This study will aid in developing and enhancing social work field education curriculum related to diversity.Proposal text: The purpose of this study was to determine if social work education, field internships, or professional training and development factors influence graduating MSW students’ perceptions about their level of cultural competence when working with diverse populations in their field internships. In addition, the study results were used to determine whether a difference existed in the perceived level of cultural competence between graduating MSW students enrolled in an HBCU or PWI. A total of 82 graduating MSW students participated in this study. The students were recruited from three social work programs: one private HBCU and two public PWIs from the metropolitan Atlanta area. A quantitative exploratory research design was employed, and surveys were used to gather the data. The Multicultural Counseling Inventory (MCI) was used to measure participants’ perceived level of cultural competence and the Questionnaire Subscale (QS) was used to measure participants’ social work, field internships, and professional development experiences. A simple regression analysis was used to identify if social work education, field internships, or professional training and development experiences influence graduating MSW students’ perceived level of cultural competence in their field internship when working with diverse populations. In addition, the independent sample t-test was used to determine if a difference in perceived level of cultural competence was present between graduating MSW students enrolled in an HBCU versus a PWI. A statistically significant relationship was found between social work education, field internships, and professional training and development variables and perceived level of cultural competence among the graduating MSW students in field internships. No statistically significant difference was found in the perceived level of cultural competence between the graduating MSW students enrolled in an HBCU or PWI; however, Black or African American graduating MSW students reported higher levels of perceived cultural competence compared to the non-Black or non-African American graduating MSW students. The conclusions from this study are preliminary and further research is needed to determine which factors actually predict graduating MSW students’ perceptions of their cultural competence in their field internships.