Compassion and cultural competence have long been concepts fundamental to social work education. Students are taught that having compassion deepens their understanding of clients and strengthens the therapeutic bond. However, little attention has been paid to self-compassion on the part of the student and its role in working with clients of different cultures from their own. This study examined the relationship between self-compassion and cultural competence among MSW students (N=257) enrolled in a private school of social work in the northeastern United States. The measures used were the Self-Compassion Scale and the Multicultural Counseling Inventory. Results suggest that higher self-compassion predicts higher cultural competence. Implications for teaching cultural competence and directions for future research are discussed.
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