Social Work Speaks Abstracts

Cultural Competence in the Social Work Profession

Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system or agency or among professionals and enable the system, agency or professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. It does not come naturally to any social worker; he or she must acquire cultural competence by turning cognitive learning into affective insight. The concept, and its implications for social work practice, is critical as the United States continually experiences major demographic changes that heighten the diversity social workers encounter in their daily practice. For example, Latinos, Asian Americans, and African Americans are expected to make up 47 percent of the U.S. population in the early part of this century. Other cross-cultural experiences emerge in serving people of various sexual orientations and those with disabilities. Meanwhile, social workers are practicing in a sociopolitical environment that is less and less concerned with the welfare of its people, however diverse their needs may be. The social work profession should be encouraged to take more proactive measures to ensure cultural competence as an integral part of social work practice and to try to increase research and scholarship among its professionals in this area.