Diversity Trainings Need Social Work Science to Achieve Racial Justice

Background and Purpose: Despite a significant increase in both voluntary and mandatory diversity training across industries and disciplines, there is little empirical evidence assessing their effectiveness (Dobbin & Kalev, 2018). King, Gulick, and Avery (2010) and Devine et al. (2012) suggest that to be effective, diversity training must increase their participants’ knowledge, reflect on their values/beliefs, and practice new skills/behaviors.

This study uniquely evaluates both a 2-day Racial Equity Workshop and a racial equity skill building caucus using a pre- and post-test mixed method design to assess changes in knowledge, values/beliefs, and skills developed as a result of attending the training and caucus.

Methods: Quantitative workshop data were collected over five years (2015-2020) and qualitative caucus data were collected over two years (2019-2021). The pre and post test instrument was reviewed by experts in the field of survey research, racial equity trainers, and diverse community stakeholders. All data were collected using a respondent-created code to ensure anonymity. The results include matched pre-/post-tests for 816 participants. Sample: 75% (612) identify as women, 22% (179) identify as men, and 3% selected another gender category. Seven (.08%) identify as Asian, 33% (269) are Black/African American, 1.9% (16) are Hispanic/Latinx, 3 (.03%) are Native American/Alaska Native, 16 (1.9%) are Multi-racial, and 62% (505) are White. Most of the respondents are from the Southeast (58%, 473) and the majority (55%, 448) classified their socioeconomic status (SES) as middle class. Generally, respondents work in the fields of Education, the Courts, Social Services, Health, and Law Enforcement.

Results: Quantitative data analyses suggest the majority of workshop participants' knowledge of race/racism, disproportionality in systems, and implicit bias increased significantly as a result of workshop participation. Qualitative data suggest that more participants recognize race as a social construct after the workshop and more participants defined racism in less individual terms (e.g., “Treating another person differently based upon his/her ethnicity, color, or background”) and in more systemic terms (e.g., “A white supremacy system of advantage and oppression based on race and social and institutional power”) after the training. Nine themes emerged in the qualitative data from the racial equity skill building caucus which describe how individuals’ personal and professional behaviors have changed after learning and practicing: debiasing strategies, increased intergroup contact, equity reflection, active antiracism, truth telling and narrative change, and racial equity decision-making.

Conclusions/Implications: This study makes a significant contribution to both the social work organization and management scholarly literature as well as to the diversity, equity, and inclusion knowledge bases. The findings provide a framework to evaluate current diversity training and to develop future programming in which changes in participants’ knowledge, values/beliefs, and skills can lead to personal and professional transformation on even topics as complex as racial, social, and political justice.