Culturally Responsive Assessment: A Case Study

The DSM-5s' inclusion of the Cultural Formation Interview (CFI) has positive cultural care implications as it expanded cultural considerations and enabled greater provision of more individualised care by reducing racial and ethnic disparities in treatment (Halter, Rolin-Kenny, Dzurec, and Cox, 2013). “The CFI follows a person-centered approach to cultural assessment designed to avoid stereotyping, in that each individual’s cultural knowledge affects how he or she interprets illness experience and guides how he or she seeks help” (APA, 2013, p.

The importance of a cross-cultural understanding in Psychology is imperative to successful care and assistance of mental health. Understanding and acknowledging the complexities of different cultures is the beginning of a more informed approach to mental health. Cultural factors and questions play a fundamental role, however, simply acknowledging cultural differences does not necessarily provide the best individual help. Thus, a combination of cultural, demographic and individual factors are crucial initial steps to specific individual assistance. Treating individuals in context can help discern deviations from cultural factors and norms. Therefore an approach which recognises that both culture and specificity to the client is most effective. Knowing someone’s background can be fundamental to clinical help but could also reinforce cultural stereotypes, this overly simplistic view could be detrimental to treatment. Throughout this essay the impact of culture on mental health will be examined, and how the health care provider and client mediate a relationship to produce the most effective results.

I’ve always I thought I was a pretty good teacher. I’ve been selected as a STAR teacher and Teacher of the Year. But after reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, I had to seriously self-reflect, and I came to the realization that if I had read and implemented the suggestions in the book perhaps I would have touched student’s lives on a deeper level, a long-term neurological life-changing level. My heart and intent were pure, but did I reach as many students as I could have? I have always been focused on getting my students to be interested in their studies and to give it their all. I’ve been told many times by them, “You do too much.” I took that as a compliment because I have always tried to motivate them to want to excel, not just in school, but in life. After reading Hammond’s book, I see that I must overhaul my thinking and my methods. By following the techniques suggested in Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain I can grow in my individual approach to each student and grow more confident that they can each reach and achieve their best.

Culturally Responsive Teaching is an emerging field that focuses on student cultural backgrounds and experiences in the development of pedagogy. According to Kea (2013) cultural difference is the single largest difference in U.S. schools and also the most neglected. The goal of Culturally Responsive Teaching is to provide an equal opportunity for all students to learn in school, regardless of their gender, social class, ethnic, racial or cultural characteristics (Banks 2005). Ladson-Billings (1994) suggest that the historic failings of educators in educating non-white students is that educators attempt to insert culture into education rather than insert education into the culture. In other words, educators are not providing an equal multi-culturally relevant education by bringing tokens of culture such as food, national flags, or maps from around the world into the classroom alone. Although these actions promote a sense of multiculturalism, an education that is relative to a diversity of cultures is not necessarily being provided. Culturally Responsive Teaching attempts to bring the various experiences of the student’s cultural home life into the classroom. Schmidt (2005) identifies seven characteristics that must be incorporated into curriculum in order to provide culturally responsive instruction. These characteristics are high expectations,

Within the social work domain, it is an accepted standard that children who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing abuse, be supported and protected in order to reaffirm and maintain their safety and wellbeing (Council of Australian Governments, 2009). This is accomplished through comprehensive child protection interventions which focus not only on the child in question, but families facilitating child upbringing and care, and their cultural ties (Bromfield & Arney, 2008). This essay will provide an overview of family led and culturally responsive interventions which aim to secure the safety and belonging of Joe within his family circumstance. The practice framework for child welfare reflects three perspectives; child-centred, family

Helen is a twenty five year old woman. While on her lunch break Helen suddenly began to tremble, feel short of breathe, choke on her food, and feel dizzy. Helen symptoms are consistent with the symptoms of a panic attack. When having a panic attack people must feel at least four symptoms. The symptoms can be palpitations, shortness of breathe, chest pains, sweating, faintness, dizziness, trembling etc. A panic attack can usually last about ten minutes, which is time that it took for Helen’s panic attack to subside. The heart palpitations can be felt so strongly by people having a panic attack that they think they are having a heart attack. The psychotherapist was right to help Helen understand that she was not having a heart attack

Engaging into the importance of multicultural competence, awareness of such competency has become a significant necessity in the area of mental health, and various fields of psychology (Hayes, 2008). It is essential for a counselor to be multicultural competent in order to develop a therapeutic alliance with a client, while understanding their cultural identity. Therefore, culturally competent knowledge, attitudes, and skills of diverse culture, is necessary, in proper treatment and diagnosis. Nonetheless, the complexity of cultural diversity can contribute to challenges in assessment, diagnosis and or treatment. It is further understood; by understanding one’s social history, psychosocial history, presenting problems, along with other pertinent information regarding a cultural responsiveness in a diagnosis, and how it would be beneficial to individuals of various social, ethnic, and other minority groups in order to make a treatment plan based on the findings of a cultural assessment (Sue & Sue, 2013). Nonetheless, cultural influences, often neglected, are needed to incorporate the challenges cultural groups face when seeking treatment. Therefore, I have found it applicable to use “ADDRESSING,” framework in therapy as a resource for developing cultural and relevant assessments in addition to the onset symptoms presented in the client in the case study of Mrs. Hudson. The use of “ADDRESSING” acronym is designed to obtain age, developmental and physical disabilities

Being aware of culture in the field has many benefits. The main benefit would be that it would help in providing better therapy for the client in question. Understanding how culture affects a client’s life can help explain the clients various roles and identities in life. Apart from that, understanding socio cultural settings will help the psychologist be more aware of the needs of their clients. For example, Indians are less comfortable in seeing a psychologist and are less liable to tell their family and friends that they are in currently undergoing therapy (Zhang, Snowden, & Sue, 1998). The psychologist should use information about the clients’ culture to personalise the therapy in order to enhance the effectiveness of it as well as to not discourage the client as well as to understand how culture affects the client and the disorder. The involvement of culture would also make the psychologist more aware of their own personal biases and mind-sets that maybe prevent the therapy from being effective. Creation of guidelines to help psychologists in the assessment of clients from varied cultures are important.

Cultural responsiveness is an ever-present challenge faced by professionals in our field. Due to the opportunities and freedoms our nation offers, the influx of diverse individuals and accompanying challenges will only increase. Culture is a lens through which we each filter our personal experiences. Because each of us possess our own implicit biases, it is critical that as clinicians we routinely conduct self-assessments in order increase our awareness of them. Throughout my practice and clinical training I have continually conducted personal needs assessments to target potential areas for personal growth. I believe that my efforts to do so have furthered my mission to provide culturally sensitive services.

Cultural competency is critical in psychology practice. In the United States, the groups, which considered as cultural and ethnic minorities, are growing in the population (APA, 2003). Culture often influences the content and quality of people’s experience, perception, and response. Thus, it is important for psychologists to be aware of cultural influences on client’s presenting experience(s) (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010). Without a regard for cultural influence, there is a significant risk for the psychologist to misunderstand, misinterpret, and misguide his or her client. Such misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misguidance are not only unhelpful but can be detrimental for the client (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011; Pope, & Vasquez, 2011).

Culturally responsive practice begins with the therapist’s commitment to a lifelong process of learning about diverse people across cultures and lifespan (Hays, 2016). I would use a self assessment tool to help uncover my cultural biases. Once I know what they are I will continue to work on them by learning about different cultures and groups of

When selecting, administering, and interpreting assessments and test results cultural competence plays a key role. Cultural competence helps counselors understand the capacity for people to increase their knowledge and understanding of cultural differences, the ability to acknowledge cultural assumptions and biases, and the willingness to make changes in thought and behavior to address those biases. A culturally competent program demonstrates empathy and understanding of cultural differences in treatment design, implementation, and evaluation (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention 1994). According to Cultural Issues in Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT 1999), culturally competent treatment is characterized by staff knowledge of or sensitivity to the first language of clients, staff understanding of the cultural nuances of the client population, staff backgrounds like those of the client population, treatment methods that reflect the culture-specific values and treatment needs of clients and also the Inclusion of the client population in program policymaking and decision making.

As an ESL instructor, I teach a diverse classroom full of migrants with a variety of backgrounds. It’s as multicultural as a classroom can be! I try to incorporate my students’ cultures into our lessons. After all, everything we know and understand comes from the lens of our culture. Take for example our own education. Think about how much influence our point of view had on our education. Now, how much is our point of view affected by culture? I try to be as culturally responsive as possible. However, I know that there is always room for improvement.

One of the first steps in reducing healthcare disparities and providing culturally competent care is assessing your cultural background, values, and beliefs. To be culturally competent, you must have cultural awareness, knowledge, skill, and encounter. Learning basic information about the predominant cultures in your area will help you to develop cultural competence. Some cultural beliefs and practices may affect the way an assessment is performed. One key concept to remember is to not make assumptions about any person based on your general understanding of their culture.

While gender and ethnicity may be the more apparent cultural features other things are important also, which include sexual orientation, spiritual or religious practices, political aspects, and general philosophy of life are all cultural elements that need to be incorporated into interventions and treatment options” (Cummins et al., 2012, p.237). In addition, it is important for the social worker to have cultural knowledge because it is necessary for selecting the appropriate intervention and treatment methods for that client. Furthermore, the appropriate multidimensional assessment provides the social worker with the internal culture of the client such as cognitive abilities or limitations, emotional health, and emotional responses and