A Qualitative Analysis of Cultural Humility Coursework: Teaching Critical Self-Reflection to MSW Students

Overview: The present study seeks to understand if a course on cultural humility encourages MSW students to develop self-understanding and an understanding of their societal and global position within the context of privilege and oppression. The study also explores whether students commit to critical self-reflection, balancing power imbalances and institutional change.Proposal text: The cultural humility model is gaining traction and being utilized in social work programs in educating social work students to work in a diverse world. The current literature on the efficacy of the model while scant is promising. Hook, Davis, Owen, Worthington & Utsey (2013) concluded in their study of a “client-rated measure of a therapist’s cultural humility” that clients’ perceptions of therapists’ cultural humility were positively associated with the working relationship and improved outcomes (p.361). Some studies found that clients who viewed their workers as culturally humble had stronger working relationships and further when culturally humble workers missed cultural opportunities their clients had less negative feeling compared to clients’ feelings toward workers who missed cultural opportunities but were not seen as culturally humble (Owen et al., 2014; Owen et al., 2016). A related study found that therapists who were perceived to be culturally humble by their clients were viewed as committing fewer microaggressions than their non-culturally humble counterparts (Hook et al., 2016). A study testing the efficacy of a title IV-E program teaching social workers to practice in a culturally informed and culturally humble fashion found that students were “able to identify cultural humility by recognizing their need to understand their own cultural and bias and to have awareness of the viewpoint of others” (Greeno et al., 2017, p.1380). A recent study of a baccalaureate level social work program that embedded content on diversity and cultural humility throughout its curriculum found that students’ commitment to lifelong learning and cultural awareness was enhanced (Trull & Meyers, 2020).

The current study uses qualitative content analysis to examine first year MSW students’ semester long discussion board posts, a required assignment in their introductory diversity course that utilizes a cultural humility model as its central framework for understanding self and others in a diverse society and world. The instructions for posting included a requirement to post at least 12 times to the discussion board. The postings were to occur at regular intervals throughout the semester and were to be substantive and thoughtful. Students were asked to incorporate reflections and critical analysis on course topics and course materials, respond to peers’ postings and to discuss one or more of the components of cultural humility and how it applied to their learning.

The sample consisted of eight first year MSW students. Five identified as female and three identified as male. All identified as White. Seven themes emerged from the data: Self and Cultural awareness; Privilege; Student Development & Transformational Learning; Understanding Racism & Oppression; Lifelong Journey; Importance of having Difficult Conversations/Dialogues; Commitment to Allyship/Advocacy. The themes that emerged from the postings were conceptualized as fitting under the three main tenets of cultural humility: ongoing critical self-reflection, balancing power imbalances and institutional change.

This poster presentation is centered on the study's results. It discusses the promise of the incorporation of a cultural humility model into social work education in helping students to both understand themselves in a global context and empower them to work as allies.