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BJSW Advance Access published online on February 13, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp008
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

A Comparative Survey of Aotearoa New Zealand and UK Social Workers on the Role of Religion and Spirituality in Practice

Blair Stirling, Leola Dyrud Furman, Perry W. Benson, Edward R. Canda and Cordelia Grimwood

Blair Stirling is a doctoral candidate, lecturer and tutor in social work within the Department of Social Work and Community Development at the University of Otago, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. Leola Furman is an Associate Professor Emeritus in Social Work at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA; Adjunct Faculty, College of St Catherine/University of St Thomas (St Paul, Minnesota); and Augsburg College (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and principal investigator of the International Surveys of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice. Perry Benson is a research associate and statistician for the International Study of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work Practice; a doctoral candidate in Cultural Studies in English at the University of North Dakota, Department of English, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA; and a database manager at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine Department of Neuroscience, for the National Study of Health and Life Experiences of Women (NSHLEW): A 20-year National Study. Edward R. Canda is a Professor at the School of Social Welfare, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA and co-ordinator of the web-based Spiritual Diversity and Social Work Resource Centre (www.socwel.ku.edu/canda). Cordelia Grimwood is a Faculty Member in social work at the University of East London in Dagenham, Essex, UK.

Correspondence to Dr Leola Furman, 1201 Yale Place, Minneapolis, MN 55403, USA or Mr. Blair Stirling, C/- Department of Social Work and Community Development, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.


  Abstract

Increasingly, social work is being challenged to consider the role of spirituality and religion in practice and education as the profession has witnessed an expanding interest in the integration of spirituality, motivated by the recognition of spiritual diversity as an important component of human experience, cultural competency and anti-racist social work practice. In response to the lack of international empirical research in general, and relating to spirituality in particular, cross-national survey research was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) and the UK as part of a larger multi-national study of social workers' attitudes about the role of spirituality in their practice. Although the two countries share some cultural similarities due to the impact of secularization, British settlement and colonization in ANZ, there are also significant differences related to the unique multicultural make-up of ANZ, emphasizing the indigenous Maori and the centrality of spirituality within a Maori worldview.

Keywords: Spirituality, religion, social work education, social work practice


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