Week 5: Class Reading - Karla

CH. 4: Understanding Populations

The main concepts from chapter four discuss how to select and study a population. There are five tasks to analyze a population as efficiently and effectively as possible. The five tasks are to: Develop Cultural Humility, Seek Diverse Perspectives, Search the Professional Knowledge Base on the Target Population, Select Factors that Help in Understanding the Target Population, and Develop a Working Hypothesis of Etiology About the Problem.

A brief summary of these concepts from this chapter add to chapter three about using qualitative and quantitative data to help address issues and problems in communities, chapter four adds layers and dimensions to data collection. Chapter four expresses the need to understand a community and its diverse population as well as its diverse needs. The first task is to Develop Cultural Humility. A social worker has to realize that their life experience can be, and many times will be different than their client’s experiences. The social worker has to have cultural competence to be effective in their treatment and to be sensitive to differences in other cultures.

The second task is Seek Diverse Perspectives. A social worker needs listen to members of the community, and be inclusive of all its members. If a social worker is creating a solution for a community it should be done with the community members and not to the community. Social workers must also be aware of the frameworks, or how a minority self-identifies and how they interact with the majority culture. Additionally, a social worker should consult with allies and advocacy groups of the target populations to gain more information. An example would be working with a LGBT alliance to get a better understanding of the LGBT community.

The next task is Search the Professional Knowledge Base on the Target Population. This task discusses the use of professional and academic resources to gain more knowledge of the target population in a community. It also explains what issues should be explored. Some issues that should be explored are growth and development, diversity considerations, and external factors that affect the community. Some examples of these concepts can include a person having trouble developing into adulthood, having troubles with embodying roles society puts on them, or being discriminated or oppressed.

The fourth task is Selecting Factors that Help in Understanding the Target Population. Using the previous tasks, patterns should start emerging. Being able to find patterns we can start looking into the cause and effect of possible problem areas that a community may have, leading into the final task.

The final task is Develop a Working Hypothesis of Etiology About the Problem. The social worker should look into the cause and effect (etiology), then form a hypothesis using the information found in the population analysis and problem analysis. A social worker can then use this data and information to direct possible interventions.

Using these tasks as basic guidelines, we as social workers can be better prepared to work with diverse communities. We need to be immersed in these diverse communities to better understand the needs and wants of a community, while gathering data, in order to give them our best and unbiased help.