Social Work 642
Military Culture and the Workplace Environment
1 Unit
Summer 2012
Instructor: / Sofia Reddy, LICSW, BCDE-Mail: / / Course Days: / Saturday 5/19 & 6/2
Telephone: / 713-817-3523 / Course Time: / 12:45-1:45 EST
Office: / VAC / Course Location: / VAC
Office Hours: / By appointment
I. Course Prerequisites
None
II. Catalogue Description
Examination of complex issues of the military as a workplace environment including gender, the role of rank structure, psychological development of basic training, and ethics of counseling.
III. Course Description
Recent developments in convention, asymmetric, and military operations other than war have created new problems and requirements for social workers and a shortfall of qualified clinicians to work with the military and a constituency needing service. The competencies required for social workers working with the military, veterans and active duty members, families, and organizational decision-makers, represent both a distinctive niche and critical expansion of talent. Without military-specific knowledge and skills, social workers could be seen as outsiders, potential threats, and poorly prepared practitioners who may inhibit the dictums of the social work profession. Therefore, it is imperative that these social workers have a clear frame of reference for understanding the military context, relevant cultural dimensions/levels, and a historical framework for military social work to apply to today’s military.
This frame of reference includes a general understanding of cultural dimensions and levels and the relevance and application of culture to the military. Culture is defined by Kluckhohn (1951) as patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values. Using the core features of a culture (Laungani, 2007) the military will be examined from perspectives including its background and organization, social systems, core values and traditions (norms for personal, familial, and social conduct, patterns of socialization, and gender roles), artifacts, language, and socially acceptable practices.
IV. Course Objectives
The Military Culture and the Workplace Environment course (SOWK 642) will:
Objective # / Objectives /1 / Promote understanding of and appreciation for the background, structure, roles/missions of the armed forces, the branches of the Department of Defense (DoD), which consists of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and state Guard and Reserves.
2 / Present a comparison of the life styles and issues of services members, veterans, their families, and communities with the civilian sector and facilitate recognition of the direct practice, policy, administrative activities, and advocacy implications.
3 / Nurture the development of insight into the reasons for military service, the experiences of minorities, and current issues facing the military, its members, and the dependent population to develop social work services with a relationally based and culturally responsive perspective.
4 / Promote understanding of the impact of military culture on identity, propensity to seek help/stigma, and epidemiology of mental health problems in the service of content mastery for specialized service delivery, organizations, targeted clinical interventions, theory, and research.
V. Course format / Instructional Methods
Three primary instructional methods will be used in class: (1) Critical discussion, interaction and transaction among the instructor and students; (2) Didactic presentation by the instructor; and (3) Student reflection. These primary methods will be supplemented with panels and guest speakers, presentation of student experiences/exercises, and analysis of lay and media portrayals relative to actual military experiences and lifestyles.
The online teaching and learning environment provided by the University’s Blackboard Academic Suite will support and facilitate student-to-student communication and interaction outside of class as well as access to instructor support. The URL for Blackboard is https://blackboard.usc.edu.
VI. Student Learning Outcomes
Student learning for this course relates to one or more of the following ten social work core competencies:
Social Work Core Competencies / SOWK 642 / Course Objective1 / Professional Identity / * / 1&4
2 / Ethical Practice / * / 1&4
3 / Critical Thinking
4 / Diversity in Practice / * / 2&3
5 / Human Rights & Justice
6 / Research Based Practice
7 / Human Behavior
8 / Policy Practice
9 / Practice Contexts / * / 2&4
10 / Engage, Assess, Intervene, Evaluate
* Highlighted in this course
The following table explains the highlighted competencies for this course, the related student learning outcomes, and the method of assessment.
Competencies/ Knowledge,Values,Skills / Student Learning Outcomes (What Advanced Practitioners in Military Social Work Do) / Method of Assessment /Professional Identity―Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.
Social workers serve as representatives of the profession, its mission, and its core values. They know the profession’s history. Social workers commit themselves to the profession’s enhancement and to their own professional conduct and growth. Social workers:
§ Advocate for client access to the services of social work
§ Practice personal reflection and self-correction to assure continual Professional development
§ Attend to professional roles and boundaries
§ Demonstrate professional demeanor in behavior, appearance, and communication
§ Engage in career-long learning
§ Use supervision and consultation / 1. Engage in lifelong learning, supervision, and consultation to enhance knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with service members, veterans, their families, and their communities. / Reflection Journal
2. Practice self-reflection and continue to address personal biases and stereotypes to build knowledge and dispel myths regarding service members, veterans, their families, and their communities. / Reflection Journal
3. Demonstrate a professional demeanor that reflects awareness of and respect for military and veteran cultures. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
4. Recognize boundary and integration issues between military and veteran cultures and social work values and ethics. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
Ethical Practice―Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.
Social workers have an obligation to conduct themselves ethically and to engage in ethical decision-making. Social workers are knowledgeable about the value base of the profession, its ethical standards, and relevant law. Social workers:
§ Adhere to the standards of their license or credentials.
§ Recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice.
§ Make ethical decisions by applying standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (1999) and, as applicable, of the International Federation of Social Workers/International Association of Schools of Social Work Ethics in Social Work, Statement of Principles (2004).
§ Tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts.
§ Apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at principled decisions. / 5. Employ strategies of ethical reasoning in an environment that may have policy and value conflicts with social work service delivery, personal values, and professional ethics. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
6. Identify the military culture’s emphasis on mission readiness, support of service, honor, and cohesion and how these influence social work service delivery at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. / Application Paper
7. Recognize and manage appropriate professional boundaries within the military and veteran context. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
Diversity in Practice―Engage diversity and difference in practice.
Social workers understand how diversity characterizes and shapes the human experience and is critical to the formation of identity. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of multiple factors including age, socioeconomic status, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Social workers:
§ Appreciate that, as a consequence of difference, a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege, power, and acclaim. Social workers recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power.
§ Gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse groups.
§ Recognize and communicate their understanding of the importance of difference in shaping life experience.
§ View themselves as learners and recognize clients as the experts. / 8. Manage potential conflicts between diverse identities within and among individuals and the military and veterans’ organizations. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
9. Manage potential conflicts between personal feelings/expression and collective/institutional responsibility. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
10. Recognize the potential risk and protective factors among diverse populations and communities that may be the result of military service. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
11. Communicate with a culturally responsive approach that includes service members with varying statuses such as active duty/retired, guard/ reserves, and combat/garrison. / Reflection Journal
Application Paper
Practice Contexts―Respond to contexts that shape practice.
Social workers are informed, resourceful, and proactive in responding to evolving organizational, community, and societal contexts at all levels of practice. Social workers recognize that the context of practice is dynamic and use knowledge and skill to respond proactively. Social workers:
§ Continuously discover, appraise, and attend to changing locales, populations, scientific and technological developments, and emerging societal trends to provide relevant services.
§ Provide leadership in promoting sustainable changes in service delivery and practice to improve the quality of social services. / 12. Assess service systems’ history, trends, and innovations in social work practice with service members, veterans, their families, and/or their communities. / Application Paper
13. Apply knowledge of practice within the military context to the development of evaluations, prevention plans, and treatment strategies. / Application Paper
14. Use information technologies and organizational analysis techniques for outreach, planning multiyear projections, for service delivery to service members and the veteran populations as well as to their families and their communities. / Application Paper
VII. Course Assignments, Due Dates & Grading
Assignment / Due Date / % of FinalGrade /Assignment 1: Course wall posts (replies to a peer’s posts are encouraged) / Weekly starting 5/19 (Min. 5 posts) / 30%
Assignment 2: Application Paper – 1 of 3 choices (see below) / 6/23/12 / 70%
Each of the major assignments is described below.
Course wall posts: You will be required to post a weekly comment to the wall and reply to at least one peer’s post, in which you will respond to the questions below:
· What are your reactions to the material covered; in other words, what particular content sparked your interest and why? Cite at least one reference from the week’s required reading – 2 points
· What are the implications of this week’s content in your role as a social worker serving this population? – 2 points
§ What is one specific example of how you will apply this knowledge to your future clinical practice? - 2 points
Total points = 6 x 5 units = 30
Application Paper: Choose one of the following:
Cultural artifacts: “Anthropology” study: This is an observational assignment and paper that will enable you to compare and evaluate what you have been learning about in this course with what you are able to discern through observation. Specifically, you are asked to observe some aspect of the military, formal or informal, and make note of the culture and relevant composition. These observations can include demographic evaluations (e.g., proportions of minority members, military rank, age), power dimensions (e.g., rank based, body language, stature, fitness), expressions of core values (or actions inconsistent with core values), other relational dimensions (e.g., friendships, support, military-civilian interactions, family interactions) and so on, to include physical artifacts. Use your observations to draw reasonable conclusions about cultural messages that are being expressed. Relate these conclusions to one or more of the assigned readings or other readings that are relevant. This assignment should result in a min. 5-page double-spaced paper (+references) and submitted at the end of the course.
Following are some specific questions as related to the unit material you will want to address in your paper (remember this is an objective observation) & grading guidelines:
· 15 points: For the military member or Veteran observed: what core values/traditions does s/he identify with? What were some beliefs pre-military vs. post military life?
· 15 points: What injuries (physical and/or mental, psychological, spiritual) did this Veteran sustain and how did it impact his/her life in various domains (as noted in unit 2)?
o In relation to Self, work, family, community, etc.
· 15 points: What help or services, if any, have the Veteran and his/her family accessed? Why or why not? What are some barriers/obstacles? Other observations?
· 15 points: Unit 4 discusses patterns of socialization, language, and life for service members or Veterans, spouses and families in the military. Based on your observations, how has the military life cycle impacted this subject’s personal and family life? What are some of the worldviews that have impacted acculturation to the military life and vice versa? How has s/he adapted, or not, with transition to civilian life? Also note any observations made regarding re-entry into larger society as covered in unit 5.
· 10 points: 2-3 references minimum, writing style (points deducted for multiple grammar or spelling errors), unique perspective, thoughtfulness, insight, and evidence of application of content from course readings/material.
OR
Cultural values and assumptions: Interview project: For this assignment you will need to collect some information from service members, veterans, and/or their family members on one or more topics that would guide or inform social work practice. This provides wide latitude in focal areas, ranging from issues about isolation and social support, stigma, to gender relations to the availability and effectiveness of services. In this evaluation it is important to consider the cultural factors that socialize and perpetuate certain practices and values, how people are considered who don’t follow these “accepted” guidelines, any “approved” workarounds that exist, and the impact on optimal effectiveness (military and personal). In this analysis link your findings and evaluation to some aspect of the relevant literature, a singular article or collection of articles. This assignment should result in a min. 5-page double-spaced paper (+ references) and submitted at the end of the course.