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Sage College DEI - Updating Language for Sensitivity

From the Editor's Desk page

Updating Language for Sensitivity

How Focus Group Conversations Revitalized a Social Work Text* 

By Megan O’Heffernan, Content Development Editor
July 2023

image of a focus group encouraging freer flow of feedback

In an applied area like social work, Sage’s DEI efforts go far beyond the textbook page—they can directly affect the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. It is crucial that social work students have access to representative texts with up-to-date theories and research on issues like race, gender, sexuality, class, and healthcare.

One of our social work texts, published in 2018, received feedback from several users about out-of-date or incorrect language. We hired a sensitivity reader for a 2020 revision of the abbreviated version of the text, but wanted to do a deeper dive for an upcoming revision of the unabridged version. After all, even without the direct feedback we received, there have been significant changes in how the field discusses race, gender, and healthcare since these books last published.  

Rather than following our standard pre-revision review process, we recruited current users to participate in a focus group to encourage freer flow of feedback—not only between users and Sage editors, but among users themselves (instructors typically share more about how a text is used or how their students are reacting to content when hearing from their peers). 

The conversation provided incredible insights that will inform the work we’re doing across our entire social work list, in addition to guiding the most important updates for revisions of this text. Our users agreed that the book needed a major overhaul to keep up with how they were now teaching the course.

Fortunately, the book’s authors are deeply conscientious people who were eager to bring in new perspectives and update the language and research throughout the text. Some areas we focused on included: 

•    Adoption of non-gendered language throughout, except when required by research or a specific topic (e.g., “pregnant individuals” instead of “pregnant women”). 
•    Discussion of race-based health care disparities and outcomes, including a new section about doula care in communities of color. 
•    More inclusion of Native American and Indigenous experiences, viewpoints, and research. 
•    New contributors representing more diverse perspectives. 
•    Specifying Western or U.S. ideals and norms rather than treating them as default. 
•    Evaluating older foundational theories through a critical lens and placing them in historical context.  

With these revisions, we aim to bring this text up-to-date and keep it relevant in a course that is on the front lines of societal changes. 

*Published 07/23. © 2023 Sage Publishing. All rights reserved. All other brand and product names are the property of their respective owners.