Spring 2025 SOWK 460w Week 12 - Research Context and Cultural Competence

title: Spring 2025 SOWK 460w Week 12 - Research Context and Cultural Competence date: 2025-04-07 14:05:15 location: Heritage University tags:

  • Heritage University
  • BASW Program
  • SOWK 460w

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In week 12, we explore the program evaluation context more. This includes cultural competency and how we can develop culturally sensitive program evaluations. The agenda is as follows:

  • Why is cultural sensitivity in program evaluation
  • Terms associated with cultural competence
  • Standards for culturally competent evaluation
  • An example of culturally responsive evaluation
  • Application to your program evaluation

Agenda for Week 12: The Tentative Plan

  • Why cultural sensitivity in program evaluation
  • Terms associated with cultural competence
  • Standards for culturally competent evaluation
  • An example of culturally responsive evaluation
  • Application to your program evaluation

Why is Cultural Sensitivity Important?

I want to start our conversation with why is cultural sensitivity important. You textbook starts with:

Identity develops across contexts and time and is shaped by cultural influences including age, generation, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, spirituality, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, social class, education, employment, ability status, national origin, immigration status, and historical as well as ongoing experiences of marginalization. (Roysircar-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000 as cited in Royse 2023, pp. 207-208)

[Whole Group Activity] Discussion Why is Cultural Sensitivity Important

Might any one of these variables keep us from experiencing the world differently than the person sitting beside us in a counseling session or those in a classroom?

Important Terms: Cultural humility (1 of 4)

First, we commonly refer to the cultural sensitivity we are attempting to gain through the idea of cultural humility.

Cultural humility reflects an attitude of openness and genuine curiosity toward people whose experiences and perspectives may differ from our own. It encourages practitioners to recognize the natural limits of their understanding when it comes to another person’s worldview and cultural background. It also calls for ongoing self-reflection about one’s own beliefs, assumptions, and unconscious biases.

Important Terms: Cultural opportunities (2 of 4)

Royse (2023) refers to cultural opportunities as

Cultural opportunities are moments when a person shares a cultural belief, value, or behavior that can serve as a “cultural marker,” offering a chance to explore and better understand that individual and their cultural background.

[Small Group Activity] Impact of cultural opportunities

  • What happens when we choose to ask and learn more about what the cultural marker means to the person we are talking with?
  • When we let such opportunities slide?

Important Terms: Cultural comfort/discomfort (3 of 4)

Another term used is the ideas of cultural comfort/discomfort

Cultural comfort refers to the way practitioners who approach their work with cultural humility can engage with cultural opportunities to deepen their understanding of another person’s cultural identity through meaningful conversation and self-reflection. When moments of cultural discomfort arise, they offer valuable chances to learn more about our own assumptions and perspectives, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of others.

Important Terms: Cultural competence (4 of 4)

Cultural competence refers to working effectively with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Controversies

  • Can one achieve complete mastery or become an “expert” in another culture?
  • Binary—implying that if someone is not culturally competent, they are necessarily incompetent and unable to engage effectively.
  • Misconception that attending sensitivity trainings, reading certain materials, or having friends from different racial or ethnic backgrounds automatically results in full cultural competence across all situations and communities.

Standards and Strategies to Increase Cultural Competence

[Small Group Activity] Program Evaluation Proposal for Diverse Population

  • Read Evaluation Standards and Strategies to Increase Cultural Competence which comes from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014)
  • Imagine you are proposing a program evaluation for a program with clients who are distinct racial, ethnic, or cultural minority.
  • Talk in small groups “How will you address good culturally competent procedures? Identify the efforts or activities you would make related to the standards.”

Reference

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Practical strategies for culturally competent evaluation: Evaluation guide. Evaluation Basics Guide Series. https://www.cdc.gov/national-asthma-control-program/media/pdfs/2024/05/cultural_competence_guide.pdf

Cultural Competency: Attributes for Program Evaluation

Awareness & Acceptance: Before we start, we need to be aware of who makes up the agency, service population, etc.

  • Self-Awareness: It always starts with self-knowledge.
  • Dynamics of Differences: What are the dynamics, politics, etc within the organization
  • Knowledge of Individual Cultures: A basic understanding and ability to identify people’s needs within those cultures.
  • Adaptation of Skills: Flexible approach that adapts as needed to those we are evaluating.

(Kapp & Anderson, 2010)

Reviewing Example in Action

[Small Group Activity] Reviewing an Example in Action

Working in your learning teams read Clarke et al. (2022) focused on “Methods: Promoting a Culturally Responsive Approach”

  • What type of of strategies do they use?
  • What kind of impact do you think it had on the study?
  • Is there anything you could adapt to your study?

Reference

Clarke, G. S., Douglas, E. B., House, M. J., Hudgins, K. E. G., Campos, S., & Vaughn, E. E. (2022). Empowering Indigenous communities through a participatory, culturally responsive evaluation of a federal program for older Americans. American Journal of Evaluation, 43(4), 484-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140211030557

Culturally Sensitive Evaluation Planning

[Small Group Activity] The following is a list of tasks to consider when we think about culturally sensitive evaluation planning. Read through these and determine if there are any aspects that you might need to address. Take notes, as there is a section to in your paper that should discuss this.

  • Review the study plan and procedures to ensure that the evaluation is inclusive and non-discriminatory about the sample/population characteristics
  • Review methods to ensure that the evaluation is inclusive concerning language, literacy, and/or data collection strategies
  • Review the evaluation process to ensure that diverse persons are consulted about gaining an understanding of the nature of the program, the design of the program evaluation, and other evaluation strategies
  • Educate yourself about the persons being served by the agency and evaluated
  • Consider the customs and needs of persons served by the programs being evaluated.
  • Identify and discuss the characteristics and strengths of the program in person served
  • Include appropriate questions and areas of inquiry about related practices and behaviors that are addressed by the program or have an impact on the program
  • Behave respectfully and recognizing how respect is communicated and conveyed is culturally defined and determined
  • Identify and appreciate any special vulnerabilities, as well as strengths, about a person’s culture in the program
  • Demonstrate a respect for confidentiality through the evaluation process
  • Consider the value gained from the evaluation and its potential benefits to the participants/community
  • Identify and delineate any advocacy implications from the research or the process of conducting the evaluation

Reference

Kapp, S. A., & Anderson, G. R. (2010). Agency-based program evaluation: Lessons from practice. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4135/9781544364896

Time to work on your program evaluations