Inclusivity, Diversity, Social Justice, and Systemic Equity

Inclusivity, Diversity, Social Justice, and Systemic Equity

With globalization, global sectors are increasingly seeing changes in their demographics. These changes are accustomed to cultural amalgamation and consequent acculturation. In healthcare, apparent cultural diversity is a result of the movement of healthcare professionals from different cultures into the healthcare system of the host country. For the harmonious existence of diverse persons within society, understanding individuals’ viewpoints and experiences is necessary. The critical social theory elaborates on how social justice and human experiences interplay in changing the world. This paper analyzes a newspaper article through the lens of critical social theory, highlighting the presenting issues within the events from the newspaper and an evidence-based policy to address them.

The Newspaper Article

The article “Targeting Marginalized Communities for Political Gain Is Nothing New for Texas Conservatives” published in the Washington Post, is a demonstration of systemic oppression and discrimination of marginalized communities in the US. It highlights the intentional use of legal parameters to restrict the rights of marginalized communities, such as the transgender communities (Young, 2022). It also demonstrates how the political tool has traditionally been used to oppress marginalized communities in conservative states such as Texas.

Ethical and Professional Behavior in Social Work

Social workers play an important role in healthcare. They enhance the well-being of individuals and communities and help them meet their basic needs. They also empower the vulnerable and otherwise marginalized communities to attain high standards of health (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). As evident in the article, the normative approach to addressing the basic needs of marginalized communities falls short of excellence (Young, 2022). Traditional oppressive tools such as politics and discriminatory behaviors towards these communities contribute to their inability to meet their basic needs. As agents of change within vulnerable societies, social workers play a role in advocating for positive changes within these communities that may alleviate them from such oppressive tools. To be exemplary in their advocacy roles, social workers must maintain ethical and professional behavior (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). The ethical codes of social justice, service, and competence implore social workers to act in the best interest of the marginalized counter. It requires them to recognize apparent diversity within modern communities and use their advocacy skills to voice the concerns of marginalized communities.

The ethical standards for social workers highlight best practices in social work that help social workers excel in their profession. Maintaining an ethical responsibility to clients and the profession are standards that inform the duty of social workers. In this respect, advocating for non-oppressive and non-discriminatory approaches towards marginalized communities, such as the LQBTQ, demonstrates social workers’ responsibility to their clients and profession. As a professional social worker, adhering to the social work value base is key (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). Such values as integrity, service, and dignity, among others, will allow them to establish long-lasting therapeutic relationships with their clients. This will advance their roles in the clients and help elevate their well-being.

Diversity and Differences in Practice

Diversity has an impact on human experiences. To begin with, diversity challenges the normative interpersonal relationship that underlines cultural homogeneity in healthcare (Osborn & Karandikar, 2022). It requires that social workers and other healthcare professionals foster an understanding of different people’s behaviors, compel them to get out of their comfort zones, and broaden their perspectives on how different people carry out their lives. Osborn and Karandikar (2022) note that diversity strengthens societal development by allowing healthcare professionals to experience different traditions and learn new skills. In this respect, diversity is a value-based system that brings different talents into clinical decision-making processes and healthcare delivery. Systems are thus likely to excel in diverse systems.

Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Human rights are the moral norms for specific standards of human behavior that are confounded in and protected by diverse substantive regulations. At the very basic, human beings have the right to life, personal security and liberty, freedom from slavery and discrimination, and the right to equality. Social work has some commonalities with the provisions of human rights (Borowski, 2021). It holds, in high regard, the values of respect, equality, self-determination, and dignity. The political move by the Texan government to restrict the rights to equality of transgender people in the state highlights, in part, the traditional social inequality in the US (Young, 2022). Social workers can integrate their social work values and work with other groups to advocate for non-oppressive measures against these groups. This will demonstrate their commitment to the ethical standards of social work. Besides, Borowski (2021) notes that respecting and dignifying other people demonstrates the inherent value of respect and dignity to human lives. It shows that a social worker recognizes their clients as human beings rather than as a factor of their incarceration or suffering.

Social justice is the fair division of privileges and resources in the society. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) ethical codes require social workers to challenge apparent social injustices within the communities they serve. As change agents, social workers seek to strengthen their clients’ opportunities for self-care. With the focus primarily on marginalized communities, social workers can elevate population health by pursuing social change across these communities (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). In the spirit of social justice, it is incumbent for social workers to front policies that promote the inclusion of the transgender communities in Texas. By standing up against discriminatory political approaches to infringing the right of choice of these communities, social workers may considerably contribute to the global pursuit of inclusive and equal communities.

Furthermore, economic injustices such as discrimination, poverty, and inequality are other impediments to population health. As evident in the article, political intention to restrict the rights of some communities is not a new phenomenon across government. Conservative groups have long rallied against marginalized populations, persons with AIDS, and even feminists (Young, 2022). As agents of positive change within communities, especially marginalized groups, social workers can leverage their skills and expertise to identify the root causes of the diverse economic injustices and postulate measures to address them. Social workers also have a role in the preservation of environmental health. They can utilize their advocacy skills to establish sustainable communities that are sensitive to their environment. By upholding their ethical obligations, social workers will be able to educate communities on environmental preservation and advocate for policies that guarantee better environmental protection.

Research-Informed Practice and Practice-Informed Research

Social workers have an ethical responsibility to the social work profession. Establishing a good relationship between the clients and social workers is paramount to effective social work operationalizations. Social workers can establish stronger engagement by emphasizing their clients’ strengths and self-determination, dignifying them by first relating with them as humans rather than as clients, and communicating with them in a simplistic and empathetic manner (Sinai-Glazer, 2020). Subsequently, strong relationships between the clients and the social worker enable the establishment of a safe space that fosters open communication and is more likely to increase the clients’ adoption of educative pieces passed to them by the social worker. Fostering a healthy relationship with marginalized communities is essential. In the resolve to eliminate inequalities against these groups, healthy social worker-client relationships with marginalized groups will provide the groundwork for empowering these communities to liberate themselves from oppressive circumstances that enslave them (Steindl et al., 2023). It is thus imperative that social workers maintain stronger relationships with their clients.

Stronger relationships between social workers and clients are dependent on how well the social worker can alter their behavior and thought processes to accommodate divergent thought processes and behaviors. Theories on human behaviors, such as the critical social theory, best explain how social workers can modify their client’s behavior to establish stronger relationships with their clients (Greene & Greene, 2022). As such, social workers should adopt these theories in the care processes to foster stronger relationships with their clients.

Policy Practice

Policy advocacy and formulation are key aspects of social work. As advocates, social workers can get involved in the policy assessment process to ascertain the suitability of the policy on populations and to identify its potential consequences. In this respect, social workers can be involved in assessing policies to ascertain their potential to discriminate against or oppress marginalized communities (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). They can also use their advocacy skills to front progressive policies that protect marginalized communities. By utilizing the process, outcome, impact, and cost-benefit evaluation techniques, social workers may determine the suitability of a policy for the marginalized group (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). These assessment techniques compare the policy goals against its conceptualized objectives to ascertain congruence. Effective data collection and analysis often precede the evaluation process. Data collection through diverse data collection tools such as surveys, interviews, and on-policy sampling may give feedback on the adoption of a policy within the communities. Data analysis allows the data collected to be synthesized. Human behavior considerably influences policy adoption within communities. As per the theoretical postulates of the critical theory, social problems are a result of cultural assumptions and social structures within communities. In this respect, discriminatory behaviors against marginalized communities may be a result of the overarching negative cultural assumptions about the communities (Atteberry-Ash, 2022). By liberating communities from enslaving policies, social workers may contribute to the general wellness of marginalized groups.

Conclusion

The modern healthcare field is diverse, often drawing people from different backgrounds. For social workers to excel in such diverse landscapes, they should demonstrate ethical and professional behavior and recognize apparent differences in diversity in their practice. As advocates for social change, social workers should also be knowledgeable on the principles of social justice and best practices in human engagement.

References

Atteberry-Ash, B. E. (2022). Social work and social justice: A conceptual review. Social Work, 68(1), 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac042

Borowski, A. (2021). On human dignity and social work. The British Journal of Social Work, 52(2), 609–623. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcab016

Greene, R., & Greene, N. (2022). A research-informed human behavior and social work practice approach: The resilience-enhancing stress model. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 19(4), 401–407. https://doi.org/10.1080/26408066.2022.2075246

Osborn, P. R., & Karandikar, S. (2022). Practice-based knowledge perspectives of cultural competence in social work. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 32(6), 285–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2022.2046228

Sinai-Glazer, H. (2020). The essentials of the helping relationship between social workers and clients. Social Work, 65(3), 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swaa028

Steindl, S. R., Matos, M., & Dimaggio, G. (2023). The interplay between therapeutic relationship and therapeutic technique: The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79(7), 1686–1692. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23519

Young, N. B. (2022, March 11). Targeting marginalized communities for political gain is nothing new for Texas conservatives – The Washington Post. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/11/targeting-marginalized-communities-political-gain-is-nothing-new-texas-conservatives/

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Assessment No. 3: Clinical Advocacy Paper: Inclusivity, Div Social Justice and Systemic Equity (20%) EPAS Comp 1, 2, 3,
Rationale: The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to acquire knowledge in
the areas of inclusivity, human diversity, social justice, and social equity; and build skills, including but not limited to speaking out as advocates for the clinical and seeking rights of marginalized people due to their diverse background characteristics. Remember that c advocacy includes actively speaking truth to power for constituents to receive appropriate and excellent screenings, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, interventions, and resources. Remember that cause adv represents engagement in social justice and social change for economic well-being. Students choose an event relating to discrimination and oppression of marginalized population groups from newspapers, published within the past 5years (New York Times, Times Magazine, Washington Post, A Constitution, Richmond Times

Inclusivity, Diversity, Social Justice, and Systemic Equity

Dispatch, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune Guardian, Daily Mail; federal or
Supreme Court rulings, or protests against injustices involving supremacy, racism, gender inequality
and/or marginalized groups (e.g., women (sexism), LGBTQAI, I with disability (ableism), poor
people(classism), and other forms of discrimination and oppression
Students will choose one or two theories, Afrocentric or Afr African-centered theory, or critical
social theory, and apply it to write a five-page clinical adv research-based paper