PSY1040 Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment
The below self-assessment tool has been adapted from the following resource:
Bennett, B., & Morse, C. (2023). The Continuous Improvement Cultural Responsiveness Tools (CICRT): Creating more culturally responsive social workers. Australian Social Work, 76(3), 315–329.
Bennett’s collection of Cultural Responsiveness Self-Assessment Tools is designed for social workers currently in practice and has a focus on cultural responsiveness when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. These tools complement existing frameworks and help to facilitate the development of culturally responsive and inclusive social work practitioners (Bennett, 2023). The tools allow for assessment and audits of cultural responsiveness at the individual and organisational levels.
For use in PSY1040, students are asked to complete the below brief individual self-assessment and to reflect on their scores for their Portfolio assessment. The wording of the original tools has been altered to have interprofessional relevance and to include cultural responsiveness across a range of intersecting identities. The organisational elements have also been removed for the student audience. Please note that with these modifications, the evidence base supporting the original self-assessment tool no longer strictly applies (so, while informed by evidence, this version is no longer ‘evidence-based’).
Complete the audit on the following pages and include your audit in your PSY1040 Portfolio as Appendix B.
Scoring and Instructions:
(Bennett & Morse, 2023).
Place a tick in the column that most aligns with your self-assessment. It is important to be honest with your learning to identify areas for self-reflection and improvement.
Score 1 point for Capable and Continuing, and 0 points for columns Emerging and Unaware.
Self-awareness
| Unaware | Emerging | Capable | Continuing | |
| Do you have a clear sense of your own ethnic, cultural, and racial identity? | 1 | |||
| Are you able to clarify your own values, attitudes, and expectations in your profession? | 1 | |||
| Do you know what your strengths, skills, and knowledge are in this space, and what your learning needs are? | 1 | |||
| Have you read the codes of ethics or practice standards for your own discipline, or the IAHA Cultural Responsiveness in Action Framework, and are you planning to incorporate goals for your work from these documents? | 1 |
Maintaining Accountability
| Unaware | Emerging | Capable | Continuing | |
| Do you plan to engage in, or are you committing to regular training, refresher courses, seminars, forums, webinars around cultural responsiveness? | 0 | |||
| Do you recognise or address any personal or institutional racism that occurs around you? | 1 | |||
| Do you take the opportunity to speak up about behaviours, practices, and processes that are not culturally responsive? | 1 | |||
| Are you planning to deliver culturally responsive practice in your future career? | 1 |
Reflexive and Critical Practice
| Unaware | Emerging | Capable | Continuing | |
| Do you reflect on your own knowledge, skills, and beliefs about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? | 0 | |||
| Do you reflect on your own knowledge, skills and beliefs about other culturally diverse peoples (e.g., CALD Australians, people with disability, LGBTIQA+ people, and people of different ages)? | 0 | |||
| Do you recognise that people have multiple intersecting identities, and the importance of each of these identities varies from person to person? | 1 | |||
| Do you take a holistic approach to health and wellbeing with an appreciation for cultural values and cultural difference? | 0 | |||
| Are you aware of relevant theories and frameworks that critically analyse the structure of society with respect to power, control, privilege, oppression, racism, and disadvantage? | 0 |
Cultural Communication
| Unaware | Emerging | Capable | Continuing | |
| Do you use clear language when communicating with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, being mindful of jargon, acronyms, technical terms, and being aware of people who may not speak English as a first language? | 1 | |||
| Are you aware of any culturally specific elements that need to be considered for your practice (e.g.: gender, age, status)? | 1 | |||
| Do you tailor your communication to meet the needs of each individual including tone, rate of delivery, clarity and volume? | 1 | |||
| Do you consider your body language in conjunction with cultural protocols for example eye contact, physical distancing and general body contact? | 1 | |||
| Do you allow time for people to think about ideas, have informal discussions, and wait to speak your turn? | 1 |
Record your scores from each of the domains in the table below:
| Self-Assessment Domain | Score |
| Self-awareness | 4 |
| Maintaining Accountability | 3 |
| Reflexive and Critical Practice | 1 |
| Cultural Communication | 5 |
| Overall Score | 13 |
Scoring Tally (Overall Score):
Adapted from Bennett & Morse (2023).
- 0 – 5: You still need to think about what you might do to start to take small steps.
- 6 – 12: You have made a start and have the potential to do more.
- 13 – 17: The work is happening; coordination and consolidation are the next steps.
- 18: You are doing well and now may have the potential to lead and mentor others.
