Human Diversity

            Abstract: Diversity is used because many worldview differences are the result of factors other than person’s country of origin. In America than are many sub groups than view things differently than the mainstream or dominant culture. Discrimination is negative behaviors based on certain external features such as race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation

Opening thought: There have been many minority groups that have faced discrimination because of their diverse background, ethnicity, or heritage. Learning about diversity in society can better help social workers maintain a level of care across the board regardless of the clients or the counselor’s ethnic orientation.

Factual paragraph #1: Prejudice is a negative attitude that may not include behavioral manifestations. Social workers have to work with everyone. It is a prejudgment, an assumption made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy. But if you have a basis you can refer them to someone. For example, support of a gay couple. The National Association of Social Worker’s Code of Ethics prohibits any social worker from discriminating against any person because of their sexual orientation. According to that standard, homosexual couples are qualified to raise a child just as much as heterosexual couples. A counselor with a prejudice or bias should refer the client to another, better qualified, counselor.

Factual paragraph #2: Rigid preoccupations involving a group. A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions, most often untrue.

Factual paragraph #3: Studies that looked at cross culture matching between client and counselors in terms of culture, race, or ethnicity have produced contrary results. These studies show that matching may produce premature drop out rate but it does not have a predicted effect on the outcome. It has been found that a client’s cultural background is not as important as his degree of acculturation. This is defined as adopting the traits of a new cultural.

Factual paragraph #4: This is a sense of collective identity based on a perception that one has relations with common ethnic heritage with a particular group. Different theorists believe that the question of whether a white social worker can work effectively with a minority group member.is largely related to the clients stage of racial or ethnic identity development. Studies show that the stronger a clients identification with a cultural or racial background, the more likely she is to prefer a therapist of similar background or cultural. A client with high acculturation and low ethnics identity usually doe not need moderation of the workers practice. In contrast those that are the opposite usually require a stronger cultural sensitivity for effective treatment.

Factual paragraph #5: The Americans disability acts states that physical or mental impairment that substantial inhibits a person’s ability to function. Any treatments must be taken with special care. One should not associate all her problems with the disability. There can be many factors that determine disability but a caseworker must not give special treatment to the client because of the disability,

Factual paragraph #6: Counseling with HIV clients can be different from counseling non-infected individuals. HIV infection in humans is considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Most untreated people infected with HIV-1 eventually develop AIDS. These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system. HIV progresses to AIDS at a variable rate affected by viral, host, and environmental factors; most will progress to AIDS within 10 years of HIV infection: some will have progressed much sooner, and some will take much longer. Treatment with anti-retroviral increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy was estimated to be more than 5 years as of 2005. Without antiretroviral therapy, someone who has AIDS typically dies within a year. With this information on the life expectancy of a clients different methods and assessment must be used

What is the most interesting thing about this podcast? The most interesting part about this podcast is the details it gives about diversity. With knowledge of diversity a worker can be used as effective tool to intervene in different kinds of people.

What can you share with other students about this podcast? What can be shared with other students are the key points brought out by this podcast that say the need for people to diversify themselves both to help in treatments and to be treated.

Concluding Sentence: In conclusion there are multiple ways of treatment for individuals with dysfunctions. Each individual has different needs and each situation will be different. A social workers love and willingness to critically and selflessly help an individual of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities is what social work is all about.

 

References:

Human Diversity. Association of Social Work Boards, Audio.