A Critical Examination Of The Values Associated With Acculturation Strategies, African Centered Practice Skills, And Knowledge Of African American Social Work Pioneers Among Professional African American Social Workers
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Date
2013
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Department
Social Work
Program
Doctor of Philosophy
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This item is made available by Morgan State University for personal, educational, and research purposes in accordance with Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Other uses may require permission from the copyright owner.
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Abstract
Social Work is a value-based profession. The African American Social Worker brings to the profession a unique perspective. This perspective is intensified by the connection to the African American transition from slave to citizen and the race group's effort to assimilate in this society. This study examined the relationships between and among the values for assimilationist and traditional acculturation strategies, African Centered Values and Beliefs (political, religious/spiritual, economic, and the cultural importance of African history), African Centered Practice Skills and selected characteristics (i.e., age, gender, level of social work degree and job role) as well as the goodness of these variables as predictors for social workers' preference for their culture of heritage and the preference to work with African American clients. The sample consisted of 129 (n = 99 women and 30 men) self-identified African American Social Workers recruited electronically to complete an on-line survey. Five hypotheses were tested using Person Correlation, MANOVA and Multiple Regression analysis. The values for traditional acculturation strategy, nor the African Centered Values and Beliefs were predictors for preference to work with African American clients. However, the research did show significant positive correlation between the values of the traditional acculturation strategy, the African Centered Values and Beliefs and the African Centered Practice Skills. Major findings revealed a significant relationship between gender and job role and the values for the traditional acculturation strategy. Additionally, the multiple regression analysis revealed that the conceptualized model of African Centered Values and Beliefs, the African Centered Practice Skills and the Awareness of the African American Social Work Pioneers were strong predictors of the values for traditional acculturation strategy.