important role in their lives had significantly stricter attitudes towards sexual risk behavior (Korhonen, , Kylma, Houtsonen, Valimaki, & Suominen, ,2012). A more recent study by Cardenas, M, Barrientos, J, Gomez, F, & Frias-‐Navarro, D. (2012) suggested that men are more prejudiced than are women. The study was done in Chile among 283 students of Chilean University. The results of the findings suggest that according to gender roles and religious beliefs males are more prejudiced than females and non-‐religiously affiliated people are less prejudiced than people who state that they have a religious affiliation. Internationally, understanding of homosexuality is slowly evolving, but it still is not accepted among several countries of the world. Social Work Faculty
According to Berkman and Zinberg (1997), “There is concern that inadequate
attention is given to homosexuality in social work education and that social workers and counselors who maintain homophobic attitudes are less effective, if not actually harmful, in delivering social services to gay and lesbian clients (p.320). For this reason, not only do students have to be knowledgeable about gays and lesbians, but faculty members need also to possess this knowledge. Faculty members play a major role in administering information to the students about this topic. Given that social work educators have a critical role in educating and socializing upcoming social work practitioners, it is vital to enlarge their knowledge of social work educators’ attitudes while constantly evaluating how to influence those of social work students. Einbinder, Fiechter, Sheridan & Miller (2012) stated that one
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