March 23, 2020

World Social Work Day is celebrated annually on the third Tuesday of March. As such, this month we turn the spotlight on social work practices in Singapore, and on those who work diligently behind the scenes to offer assistance in our communities. Dr Rosaleen Ow, Senior Lecturer from NUS Department of Social Work, and Ms Nur Hilyah Bte Saparin, Programme Director and Principal Social Worker from AMKFSC Community Services, provide an incisive and contextual perspective of social work in their article ‘Malay Muslim Worldviews: Some Thoughts for Social Work Practice in Singapore’ (Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work, 2014).

The authors highlight the multiculturalism of Singapore and how cross-cultural social work may often bring cultural values and assumptions that compete or are misunderstood in problem definition and resolution. Centering its focus on the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore, the article first foregrounds worldviews of the Malay-Muslim community, and then illustrates the implications of such worldviews on social work practice in health and family related issues in Singapore.

Comprehensively documenting cultural and religious attitudes towards illness, medical attention, mental health, and family roles, the article demonstrates cultural nuances which are crucial for social workers in their understanding of clients. The research is important as it draws attention to specific factors which impact client-worker communication and the efficacy of aid in cross-cultural social work practices, as well as extrapolates these factors to social work practices with the other ethnic and religious communities in Singapore.

Read the full article here.