Acculturation

Acculturation is a cultural change that begins while balancing two cultures and adopting the dominant culture in society. Social workers would first begin to understand and assess the degree of acculturation in a client. It is important to assess this because not all aspects of the individual will be affected by acculturation. It is also is very important to recognize family role strain. The text uses the example of women working, this may be necessary but conflict with culture. Social workers must create a bridge between current values and traditional ones, while doing this it is important not to place more value on one or the other. Children who feel as though their parents have accepted them feel more inclined to participate in traditional culture. Social workers must help each side of the family to understand the other and establish that neither is coming from a place of disrespect (Sue, et al., 2016).

I believe that spirituality and religion do not have much of a place in social work and in mental health from the position of the social worker. Social workers should be an unbiased reliable source and allowing religion to affect their thoughts makes them biased. For example, a client comes in pregnant. The client doesn’t feel ready to have a child. If religion appeared in this session the social worker may discourage abortion even if that is the best option. While religion can offer peace to a client it can make them feel pressured and persecuted if they do not agree with those values.