Addressing Sexual Minority Issues in Social Work Education: A Curriculum Framework

Abstract

This paper will explore a curriculum framework that explicitly addresses the reduction of heterosexism as a means to produce students that are culturally competent to practice with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Van Den Bergh and Crisp (2004) place great importance on addressing beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and skills when broaching culturally competent practice with the LGBTQ population. Beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and skills in an educational approach will be advocated in this paper. Specifically, the creation of a constructivist environment will be endorsed as a means for students to critically assess their own beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and skills. A curriculum framework that utilizes classroom activities related to heterosexual privilege, policy, and practice role plays will be discussed. This curriculum framework is intended to prepare social work students to work with LGBTQ clients.

MSW student perceptions of sexual health as relevant to the profession: Do social work educational experiences matter?

“…Emerging social workers must be educated and prepared to engage with clients in discussions and decisions around sexual behavior. In conclusion, findings of the present study support the call given (Ramseyer Winter, 2015;McKay, 2015;Gezinski, 2009;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004) for more sexual behavior education within the social work curriculum.…”

“…Currently, the Educational and Practice Standards (EPAS) from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) do not require that social work programs at any level (BSW or MSW) include sexuality education or sexual health education as part of classroom or field placement curriculum (Council on Social Work Education, 2008). The call for curriculum that includes human sexuality education occurred as early as the 1970s (e.g., Brashear, 1976;Gochros & Schultz, 1972), and has continued throughout the past few decades (e.g., Ramseyer Winter, 2015;McKay, 2015;Gezinski, 2009;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004;O'Neill, 2016). One study reports that graduate social work students reported attempts to include discussion and/or study of sexuality as part of their program, and subsequently were encouraged to abandon these topics by social work faculty (McCave, Shepard, & Ramseyer Winter, 2014).…”

“…Addressing human sexuality-related topics in social work education will allow individuals to explore and grapple with their attitudes regarding sexually marginalized individuals and politically relevant topics of sexuality, such as access to birth control, contraception, abortion, and/or comprehensive sexuality education (Gezinski, 2009;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004). This would prepare social work professionals to engage with issues of sexuality and sexual behavior that may arise while working with clients in real world settings, a concern that has been brought up by students in both BSW and MSW programs (Laverman & Skiba, 2012;Logie, Bogo, & Katz, 2015).…”

Exploring U.S. Social Work Students’ Sexual Attitudes and Abortion Viewpoints

“…Yet these topics remain mostly absent from both classroom-based curricula and fieldbased trainings. Scholars have more recently joined this call to action, showcasing the need for diverse topics in the realm of sexuality and health to be formally covered in social work education (Gezinski, 2009;Ramseyer Winter, 2015;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004).…”

“…This would concurrently support individuals in exploring and grappling with their existent beliefs and attitudes (Gezinski, 2009;Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004). Such efforts may alleviate concerns discussed by bachelor's and master's of social work students in that they feel inadequately prepared and undersupported to engage with issues of sexuality that may arise while working with clients in real-life settings (Laverman & Skiba, 2012;Logie, Bogo, & Katz, 2015;Newman, Bogo, & Daley, 2009).…”