Assignment: Spirituality and Social Work Practice

Being culturally sensitive by respecting your clients’ spirituality and religious traditions, in general, is an important professional competence (Furness & Gilligan, 2010). Applying your spiritual awareness to a specific client case, however, may require even greater skill. In this assignment, you consider how you might address a client’s crisis that includes a spiritual or religious component.

To prepare for this Assignment, review this week’s media about Eboni Logan’s visit with her school social worker.

By Day 7

Submit a 2- to 4-page paper that answers the following questions:

• As Eboni’s social worker, would you include spirituality and religion in your initial assessment? Why or why not?
• What strategies can you use to ensure that your personal values will not influence your practice with Eboni?
• How would you address the crisis that Eboni is experiencing?

Support your Assignment with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 9 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
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• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK9Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Chapter 3, Section “Relate Human Diversity to Psychological Theories” (pp. 130-132)
Chapter 7, Sections “Review Fowler’s Theory of Faith Development,” “Critical Thinking: Evaluation of Fowler’s Theory,” and “Social Work Practice and Empowerment Through Spiritual Development” (pp. 350-354)
Chapter 15, Section “Spotlight on Diversity 15.2: Spirituality and Religion” (pp. 694-696)
Barker, S. L. (2007). The Integration of spirituality and religion content in social work education: Where we’ve been, where we’re going. Social Work & Christianity, 34(2), 146–166.
Crisp, B. R. (2011). If a holistic approach to social work requires acknowledgement of religion, what does this mean for social work education?. Social Work Education, 30(6), 663–674.
Day, J. (2010). Religion, spirituality, and positive psychology in adulthood: A developmental view. Journal of Adult Development, 17(4), 215–229.
Furness, S., & Gilligan, P. (2010). Social Work, Religion and Belief: Developing a Framework for Practice. British Journal of Social Work, 40(7), 2185–2202.
Oxhandler, H. K., & Pargament, K. I. (2014). Social work practitioners ‘integration of clients’ religion and spirituality in practice: A literature review. Social Work, 59(3), 271–279.
Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.
Stirling, B., Furman, L., Benson, P. W., Canda, E. R., & Grimwood, C. (2010). A comparative survey of Aotearoa New Zealand and UK Social Workers on the role of religion and spirituality in practice. British Journal of Social Work, 40(2), 602–621.
Document: Wagenfeld-Heintz, E. (2009). Faith and its application to the practice of social work. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 21(3), 182–199. (PDF)(PDF)
Faith and its application to the practice of social work by Wagenfeld-Heintz, E., in the Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 21/3. Copyright 2009 by Haworth Pastoral Press. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis Informa UK Ltd- Journals via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
“The Logan Family” (pp. 9-10)
Document: Life Span Interview (PDF)
You will use this document for your Life Span Interview Assignment In Week 10.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013). Logan family: Episode 3 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.
Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload TranscriptCredit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

Optional Resources

Use the link below to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.
MSW home page
Atchley, R. C. (2006). Continuity, spiritual growth, and coping in later adulthood. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 18(2/3), 19.
Hodge, D. R., & Bushfield, S. (2007). Developing spiritual competence in practice. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 15(3-4), 101–127.
Linzer, N. (2006). Spirituality and ethics in long-term care. Journal of Religion and Social Work, 25(1), 87–106.
Nelson-Becker, H., & Canda, E. R. (2008). Spirituality, religion, and aging research in social work: State of the art and future possibilities. Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 20(3), 177–193.
Nelson-Becker, H. (2005). Religion and coping in older adults: A social work perspective. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 45(1/2), 51–67.