Kieran O'Hagan is an established writer and former Reader in the School of Social Work at The Queen's University, Belfast. He worked for over twenty years in the social services in Britain. He has also lectured and worked in Australia, India and the USA. He has published many books and articles on a wide range of subjects in welfare and in training, including child abuse, crisis intervention, social work competence and the abuse of women in family and child care.

• Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part One: Re-discovering Culture. 1. A Tale of Two Cultures. 2. Culture: A Global Concept. 3. Towards a Definition of `Culture' and `Cultural Identity'. 4. Islam 5. American Indians. 6. Australian Aborigines. Part Two: Obstacles and Challenges to Cultural Competence. 7. The Traditional Lack of Cultural Awareness within the Caring Professions. 8. Perceptions of Culture within Anti-Racist and Anti-Discriminatory Practice. 9. Culture and Religion. 10. Culture and Language. Part Three. Part Three: The Way Forward 11. Cultural Sensitivity and Cultural Insensitivity. 12. Commentary on Research Findings. 13. Agency Perspective. 14. Definition: Completing the Task 15. Training for Cultural Competence 16. Epilogue. References.

This material will be a good teaching resource, and is rightly included as part of the way forward, for by the end of this book, O'Hagan has made a convincing case for people who work in the caring professions to develop and practise improved levels of cultural competency.This book provides a great resource for students and practitioners learning about cultural sensitivity. It is challenging, and the personal disclosures in the Acknowledgements and Epilogue speak for the sincerity with which the challenges are made. I encourage people in the caring professions to take them up.