Culturagrams
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should have a working knowledge of how to construct and use a culturagram.
Members of other cultures often face challenges that are specific to their community, based on experiences, values, and practices that are far outside the social worker's own scope of reference. The culturagram, a tool developed by Dr Elaine Congress in 1994, and taken up in the UK by Parker and Bradley in 2003, is one way to take these cultural sensitivities into account and build them into a deeper understanding of service users' circumstances.
This quick guide features some simple instructions on how to construct a culturagram, and a practice example.
Reflective Questions
- Is a culturagram an effective method of examining the complexities of an individual's cultural background?
- What are the potential limitations of a culturagram?
- What obstacles might you face in practice as a social worker trying to conduct a culturagram with a service user? How might you overcome these challenges?
- With which groups of people do you think this tool would be particularly useful?
References:
E Congress (1994) ' The use of culturagrams to assess and empower culturally diverse families.' Families in Society, 75, 531-540
J Parker and G Bradley (2003) Social Work Practice: Assessment, planning, intervention and review. Exeter: Learning Matters.