Initial Findings from the Racial Equity Consciousness Institute (RECI)

Rationale: Systemic racism continues to impact the emotional and physical health of millions of people—especially, but not exclusively, people of color. While many trainings have been developed to address both interpersonal and structural racism in organizations, few have been able to shift habituated biases and behaviors. Structured cognitive behavioral training (SCBT) is an organized cognitive development process that employs systematic, highly structured practices designed to mitigate unconscious biases and behaviors and foster behaviors aligned with personal and collective values. To address racism at the interpersonal and organizational level, SCBT was utilized to develop the Racial Equity Consciousness Institute (RECI). This seven-session intervention presents information and stimulates reflection in group discussions to address participants’ equity dispositions, awareness, understanding, and skills. This mixed methods pilot study aimed to assess the potential of participating RECI to increase participants’ awareness and skills, confidence in facilitating dialogue and the likelihood of engaging in reflective practice.

Methods: From July 2021 to January 2023, University of Pittsburgh Faculty, Staff, and Students participated in RECI sessions in cohorts. Post (N=103) surveys were completed to evaluate experiences RECI’s potential to increase participants’ confidence in their racial equity 1) dispositions, 2) knowledge, 3) awareness, 4) skills ((1) strongly disagree, (7) strongly agree), their knowledge of specific domains and confidence facilitating dialogue about these topics. Additionally, participants were asked if they were more likely to reflect on race and racism 1) on their own, 2) within their own racial group, and 3) with members outside their racial group. An open-ended question assessed elements of the intervention that impacted participants. To address the study’s aim, descriptive statistics were examined, and participant reports were compared across domains using paired t-tests. A content analysis was conducted to understand the participant’s experience of the intervention.

Results: On average, participants agreed that they were more confident in their racial equity dispositions (M(SD)=6.4 (.83)), knowledge (M(SD)=6.54 (.75)), awareness (M(SD)=6.34(1.04)), skills (M(SD)=6.34) after participating in RECI, with the improvement of knowledge being significantly more than awareness (t=2.49, p<.01) and skills (t=2.55, p<.01). Among knowledge domains, participants reported having the most increased confidence in racial empathy and the least in racial identity and racial liberation. Participants reported the most increased confidence in engaging in dialogue with peers and the least with administrators and the community (t=3.96, p<.001). Lastly, participants reported that after participating, they are more likely to reflect on race and racism on their own and with others in their own racial group; this increase was slightly less for reflecting with others outside their racial group (t=3.72, p<.001). When asked what elements of the intervention were the most impactful, 25 participants mentioned small group dialogue, 17 mentioned moving knowledge and dispositions into action, and 16 mentioned new knowledge.

Conclusions: This study suggests that participating in RECI improved participants’ dispositions, knowledge, awareness, and skills to cultivate racial equity and areas where the intervention may be enhanced. Developing effective strategies for addressing racism at the interpersonal and organizational levels is essential for advancing racial equity in social work practice.