Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Social Work Education: A Cultural Competence Model

Overview: COVID-19 has revealed significant disparities in health and human services. Racially marginalized communities have experienced the pandemic as disproportionately devastating in contrast to their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. To address such inequities, the next generation of social workers must be equipped with cultural competence and antiracist practice behaviors.Proposal text: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed significant disparities in health and human services across racial groups. People of Black, Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinos, Asian and Pacific Island communities have experienced the pandemic as disproportionately devastating in contrast to their White, non-Hispanic counterparts (Price-Haywood, Burton, Fort, & Seoane, 2020; Evans, 2020). No longer can we as a society ignore the racism as a social determinant of health and wellbeing. Long before COVID19, there was evidence of implicit racial and ethnic bias among healthcare professionals and its influence on health care outcomes (Hall, Chapman, Lee, et al., 2015; Paradies, Ben, Denson, et al., 2015).
As we forge ahead in the midst of the pandemic, social workers need to consider the contemporary issues and impacts of health disparities, racial equity and the elimination of structural racism in our healthcare systems, policies and practices (Misir, 2022; Ross, Cederbaum, de Saxe Zerden, Zelnick, Ruth, Guan, 2022). This presents considerable challenges for social workers that have not been trained in a culturally diverse milieu, which requires them to be responsive to the different needs, experiences, values and beliefs of racially and ethnically diverse patients, colleagues and communities. Moreover, to prepare the next generation of social workers, we as educators and research scholars, must help them to develop the necessary awareness, skills and knowledge necessary to address racial inequities in their fields of practice.

Health disparities and racial inequities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or in opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by historically disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other population groups, and communities (Laurencin, & McClinton, 2020). Research consistently shows that Patients of Color experience poorer quality of care and health outcomes contributing to increased risks and accelerated mortality rates in comparison and contrast to their White Patients (Egede, 2020; Evans, 2020; Misir, 2022; Price-Haywood, Burton, Forte, et al., 2020).

Equipping students with the tools they need to be successful during and post- COVID19 challenges us to be innovative and unafraid to name the historical barriers that left entire communities of Black and Brown people at risk for significant health disparities and disproportionate death rated due to coronavirus. The historical marginalization of non-White people in the U.S. is finally getting the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, the attention came in response to a public health crisis that researchers have argued, will have lifelong negative impacts and implications for racially and culturally communities that have been historically devalued and decimated by systemic racism. Preparing social workers to be leaders on interprofessional, integrated healthcare teams aligns with our Social Work Code of Ethics and practices standards for cultural competence (NASW, 2017).

In concordance with the NASW Cultural Competency Standards to formulate recommendations, guidelines, and action plans to ensure practitioners develop and use culturally competent practices, we discuss a conceptual model that combines a framework of emotional intelligence; one is a resource for teaching and training; and other guides the assessment process. This model can be used for developing and implementing cultural competence curriculum and for evaluating practice.