Social Work Practice with Culturally Diverse People

The image of society is rapidly changing, challenging the social worker to adjust to a more culturally diverse clientele. Social workers are dealing with individuals who are from more diverse backgrounds, better informed, more politically active, and more aware of his or her rights. How does today′s helping professional address the growing gaps in societal needs? Social Work Practice with Culturally Diverse People addresses the ambivalent and ambiguous changes in society, which have conditioned and constrained the willingness, ability, and efforts of social workers to provide culturally competent services to those different from mainstream society. Dhooper and Moore outline each of the major disadvantaged groups and give a historical overview, highlight the major needs, identify intragroup differences, and discuss intervention at the micro, mezzo and macro levels. They discuss how the social worker needs self-awareness of his or her own culture to treat clients as culturally equal to them. This is an essential text for students entering social work at both the direct and community practice levels. Additionally, it is an excellent reference for the practitioner dealing with these changes in his or her own practice.

Surjit Singh Dhooper is Professor Emeritus at the College of Social Work, University of Kentucky. His professional experience, spread over more than 40 years, includes both practice and teaching. He did clinical as well as administrative and community organizational work in health care settings for 18 years and taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels for about 25 years. He also held academic administrative positions such as Director of Ph.D. Program and Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Social Work. He was closely associated with the work of the Human Development Institute and Sanders Brown Center on Aging of the University of Kentucky. He was awarded an endowed professorship―Constance Wilson Professor of Mental Health―in 2000, which he occupied until his retirement.