Social Work & Cultural Values - Intro to Social Work

 HELP with my Social Work assignment

There are special populations such as children and youth, the elderly, the homeless, individuals with physical and mental disabilities, police brutality victims, AIDS patients, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, women and minorities, environmental issues, including ethnic minorities bring unique needs and circumstances that must be recognized when the social worker serves these persons. There are also societal induced stressors and factors identified by many in society that subordinate, discriminate, oppress and affect special populations that must be addressed, understood and alleviated. These stressors and factors are identified in rural, urban and suburban sites of practice. Therefore, social work students need to be sensitive to these stressors and factors along with racial, ethnic, and cultural factors when working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, and colleagues.

Students are assigned to work individually to complete the following assignment in understanding human diversity, cultural diversity, and special populations:

1) Select one of the groups below to research and locate information from books, refereed peer-reviewed journals, or other evidence-based research articles. 

2) Using your critical thinking skills, provide your overall reaction to the authors’ presentation of the special population that you are researching. For example, do the authors’ research present stereotypes, value judgments or judgment conflicts? 

3) Practice personal reflection and self-correction to assure continual professional development by answering the following questions: Do you have biases toward the diverse group? Explain. As a worker, identify how you eliminate biases and how professional values guide social work practice?

4) Discuss whether your understanding of the special population changed or remained the same after researching the population; and

5) Present your findings in a PowerPoint presentation identifying your reactions to the questions and statements listed in 1-4. 

Individual Assignments:

*Group 3 - Social Work Practice with Children & Youth