Date of Award
2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Social Work
Abstract
Given that U.S. history documents the severing of African-American family ties by isolating parents from each other and their children under slavery, it is imperative that the child welfare system be free of any echoes of that holocaust. Yet many scholars and practitioners who lament negative racial attitude, both implicit and explicit, may continue to contribute to the over-representation of African-American children in the U.S. child welfare system. This study proposes to examine a subcategory of practitioner attitudes, those about the caregivers’ race, and how those attitudes can be altered through a reflective educational experience. Drawing from pre-existing research about how social work practitioners’ beliefs, attitudes and perceptions are factors in decision-making (Belsky, 1991; Benbenishty, Osmo & Gold, 2003; Gambrill, 2005; Portwood, 1998; Ards, Myers, Ray, Kim, Monroe, & Arteaga, 2012), and attitudinal theory in particular (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), this study will expand existing theory and contribute to improving child welfare practice. The Solomon Four-Group Design will be utilized to examine the effect of the intervention, Knowing Your Lens: Awareness Training (KYLAT), on an anticipated 240 social work practitioners’ individual racial attitude. The Color Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS) will measure racialized attitudes during pre and posttests. The findings of this study have policy, practice, and educational implications and can point towards ways to reduce negative implicit and explicit bias in decision-making with African American families who remain disproportionally represented in the child welfare system.
Recommended Citation
Fletcher, Adrianne Michele, "We Can Do Better: Evaluating an Intervention Remedying Caseworkers’ Negative Racial Bias towards African American Families Involved in Child Welfare" (2017). Dissertations. 2587.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2587
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2017 Adrianne Michele Fletcher
