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The inclusion of spiritual assessment is vital to holistic, culturally competent work with clients and yet it is oftentimes overlooked in agency settings and in academic training. Educating students regarding how to broach the subject of faith and tactfully assess spirituality is vital to ethical and skillful practice. This process must be learned and practiced in order to do so thoughtfully, ethically, and respectfully. One approach, drawn from an undergraduate Spirituality in Social Work course, which the author teaches, is shared. The teaching strategies utilized, assignments given, and lessons learned are discussed. The aim is that students are well prepared to thoughtfully evaluate a client's identified faith significance and subsequently to meaningfully integrate spiritual content into their work.
Keywords: spirituality, social work, assessment, cultural competence, spiritual sensitivity, teaching
work. Acknowledging issues of faith with clients is essential in seeking to be culturally competent. In both domestic and international social work, addressing religious and spiritual ideologies is critical in practicing effective, ethical, and comprehensive social work. Spirituality has been acknowledged, by the social work profession, as a necessary component of social work practice for the past two decades. Within the realm of social work, knowledge of a client's spiritual beliefs is often associated with other significant areas of importance in a client's life (Hodge, 2005). In order for practitioners to become competent in addressing issues of spirituality with clients, they must be trained and equipped in this area (Hodge &
Bushfield, 2007). Determining how, when, and even i/it is appropriate to integrate spirituality into work with clients is imperative, requiring much skill and practice. In spite of the theoretical acceptance of spirituality's potential importance in social work practice, there appears to be a deficit in the training work students on the subject. (Lennon-Dearing, Florence, Halvorson, & Pollard, 2012). Of those who do integrate faith or spiritual content into course curricula, some include it in Human Behavior courses, Practice courses, and Diversity courses, while others devote an entire class to the subject. There are benefits and deficits inherent with each approach (Bethel, 2004).
Regardless of the format in which spiritual sensitivity is taught, an essential skill that should be included in this training is spiritual assessment. Students must be taught how to broach the subject...