Student Willingness to Engage in Congregational Social Work across Religious Groups

Background and Purpose

Both the National Association of Social Workers (2023) and the Council on Social Work Education (2022) recognize religion and spirituality as elements of human diversity. Integrating religion and spirituality in treatment have positively impacted client mental and physical health. Congregational social work, which refers to social work in or among groups of people who meet for religious activities, is one mechanism to provide religiously or spiritually integrated services. Congregational social work can benefit vulnerable populations by decreasing loneliness, decreasing stigma and other barriers to accessing mental healthcare, and providing resources. The Congregational Social Work Education Initiative allowed students to partner with nurses in congregations to provide direct services, referrals and mental health risk-assessments; social workers helped address congregant needs related to housing, food, medical concerns and short-term mental health issues. Students learned about the ethics and practice of providing religiously and spiritually competent services to congregants. However, little is known about social work student opinions regarding congregational social work. This study examines whether students believe it is appropriate for social workers to be employed within religious congregations and examines student willingness to work within different religious congregations.

Methods

Using purposive sampling methods, social work students were recruited from a northeastern university in January 2022. A mixed-methods online Qualtrics survey was administered. Students used a four-point Likert-scale to rank the appropriateness of “social workers employed within religious organizations (mosques, temples, synagogues, or churches).” Students also separately ranked their willingness “to provide mental healthcare/social services within the following religious settings or non-profit organizations” which included Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Christian Catholic and Christian Protestant options, on a four-point Likert scale; descriptive statistics are reported. A content analysis examined qualitative responses to a question asking respondents which religious organizations they would be most comfortable working with and why.

Results

94.6% (n=122) of the 129 students surveyed students believe it is either very appropriate or somewhat appropriate for social workers to be employed in congregations. Students were most willing to work within Buddhist and Jewish organizations, 76% (n= 98) of students reported for they were either somewhat willing or definitely willing to work within each of the organizations. Students were most unwilling to work in Catholic or Protestant organizations with 33.4% (n=43) either definitely unwilling or somewhat unwilling to work in Catholic organizations and 31% (n=40) for Protestant organizations. Of the 97 qualitative responses, 31% (n=30) were willing to work within any religious organization and 3.3% stated they were uncomfortable in any organization. 24.7% (n=24) of respondents mentioned their personal religious or nonreligious identity when explaining factors that influenced their comfort levels. 16.5% (n=16) of respondents indicated they did not have sufficient knowledge for competent practice and 12.3% (n=12) mentioned concerns about conversion and 16.5% mentioned the importance of values and ethics.

Conclusions and Implications

Student willingness to engage clients in religious organizations is influenced by several factors including preexisting knowledge and personal religious identity. Social work education can increase student religious knowledge to address this area of client diversity.