HSS 102 - Cultural Diversity and Client Populations

Credits: 5
LEC hours per week: 5
Students will assess the attributes and needs of diverse populations served by human services such as elderly, children and family, LGBT, homeless, substance abuse addicts, and people with disabilities. They will also practice adapting strategies and locating resources to address the needs of those populations. Students will assess their own skills and potential challenges working with different populations. Students will be exposed to a variety of cultural ideas to promote tolerance and understanding when working with diverse populations. Culture, lifestyles, religion, age, and gender will also be explored to increase awareness and related concerns.
Course Outcomes:

Explain diversity, barriers to cultural sensitivity, and the advantages of working respectfully with persons from all cultural backgrounds.
Demonstrate professional practice with diverse populations by working with community organizations and agencies to locate resources to address the needs of those populations.
Examine and develop awareness of one’s own values, personalities, reaction pattern, interpersonal styles, and limitations and how these may affect the people they serve.

Course Topics:

Needs of diverse populations
Resources provided by local human service agencies
Minority groups in the United States
Stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination
Race, ethnicity, and culture
Gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, and socioeconomic status
Systems of inequality
Promoting tolerance and understanding when working with diverse populations
Self-awareness of one’s own values, personalities, reaction pattern, and interpersonal styles