| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions and attitudes of Makerere University Social Work students towards sexual minorities. The objectives that guided the study include; to find out the level of awareness of sexual minorities among Social Work students, to find out their attitudes towards sexual minorities and lastly to establish the factors that influence their attitudes and perceptions. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires that were administered to 168 students who were selected by use of systematic sampling as well as one focus group discussion. Secondary data was sourced from books, articles and journals. The study findings revealed that all (100%) of the students had heard of sexual minorities. The students first heard of sexual minorities mostly from schools (55.3%), televisions (10.7%) and social media (9.0%). The sources where they got most information about sexual minorities were social media (57.1%), schools (23.8%) and televisions (11.3%). However, only 26.2% of the students knew of sexual minorities in their personal spaces. Most of these sexual minorities being their schoolmates (45.4%), community members (34.1%) while 15.9% were friends. It was found that the attitudes and perceptions of Makerere University Social work students towards sexual minorities were negative. On average, the students agreed to the statements that expressed negative attitudes towards sexual minorities. It was also found that sex of a student was significantly associated with attitudes and perceptions towards sexual minorities while student’s age, year of study, marital status and ethnicity were not significantly associated with attitudes and perceptions towards sexual minorities. Religious beliefs (66.6%), the African Culture (20.9%) and belief in the natural order of things (11.1%) were the influencing factors for students’ negative attitudes. For the few who expressed positive attitudes, the factors influencing them were close association with a sexual minority (33.4%), belief in freedom of people to choose their sexualities (20.0%) and another 20.0% believed that other people’s sexualities were none of their business. The study therefore recommends that there is need for research, negotiation and agreement by the National Association of Social Workers in Uganda (NASWU), International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the government of Uganda on how the NASWU ethics, IFSW ethics and the country laws can be reconciled to enable Social work students and practitioners to navigate the dilemma of working with sexual minorities in Uganda. | en_US |
