The Impact of MSW Programs on LGB-Competence: How Specific Organizational Factors Influence Student Competence

Background/Purpose: Development of professional competence with lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities (LGB-competence) is necessary for ethical practice in social work because of ongoing oppression and marginalization experienced by LGB communities, and social work’s commitments to fight for social justice. This is especially important because regardless of professional role, all social workers will likely be asked to serve LGB individuals at some point in their career. However, recent research demonstrates Master of Social Work (MSW) students vary widely in knowledge, beliefs, and skills regarding LGB issues. Also, research shows MSW program’s organizational-level LGB-competence is related to the individual LGB-competence of the program’s students. This suggests a need for greater understanding of the complexities of student LGB-competence, and what MSW programs can do to develop students in this area.

To address this need, this study further examines nuances in the relationship between organizations and individuals by identifying discrete factors of organizational-level LGB-competence to determine which significantly predict student competence. Furthermore, analyses examined difference between students with higher and lower levels of individual LGB-competence, and how these two groups are impacted differently by their organizational-level contexts.

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the emerging body of literature exploring how social work education can impact student’s development of professional competence. MSW programs must ensure that they inculcate LGB-competency in all students in order to produce professionals who are capable of ethical practice with LGB communities.

Methods: Data for this study consisted of information gathered from 1,109 MSW students from within 34 MSW programs in the U.S. through an online survey. Students were split into ‘high’ and ‘low’ groups within each program based on whether they scored above or below their program’s mean on a measure of LGB-competence. Analyses then tested if these within-program groups were significantly different. Hierarchical linear modeling was then applied to identify organizational-level predictors of student LGB-competence, specifically examining how the impact of such factors differed for the high and low groups.

Results: Results show that within a given program, there are significant differences between high and low groups. Findings from hierarchical analyses reveal that several organizational-level factors were significant predictors of LGB-competence for the low groups, while only one shared factor was a significant predictor of competence for the high groups. Findings further suggest that overall, organizational-level factors have a greater impact on low group versus high group students.

Conclusions and Implications: This study provides further evidence to conclude that student LGB-competence varies significantly within specific MSW programs. Furthermore, this study pinpoints specific organizational factors that impact students differently depending on their relative level of LGB-competence within their program. These findings suggest that schools of social work should evaluate the LGB-competence of their students, and provides insight into how such student evaluation could be used to improve a program’s capacity to meet the needs of its students, and in turn, produce more ethical and competent professionals.