Diversity and Multicultural Competence

Due to a clinicians’ lack of understanding of Hispanic culture, feelings of alienation can result from the patient. Family and social structures are different in Hispanic culture, whereas “professional help may not be sought due to Hispanics considering substance abuse a family problem” (Reif, Horgan & Ritter, 2008). In Hispanic culture it is perceived that family issues remain in the family, thus outside help is frowned upon. When treating clients from this population, clinicians need to include the whole family in the treatment plan and to respect family

Guideline 1: Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves (American Psychological Association, 2003). I agree that psychologist can hold many different beliefs concerning others. The beliefs can sometimes hinder a person from growing emotionally, and cognitively. In my opinion it is important for the professional to be familiar with the diversity that may exist in their patients and remain professional in their

It may require much patience, but over time the stigma attached to seeking mental health care can be overcome to build a strong therapeutic relationship can be built on a foundation of trust in which it can be stressed that seeking and utilizing mental health treatment is a characteristic of strength rather than weakness and evidence of love for family. As the client’s personal problems are resolved, the focus can shift to advocacy and substance abuse prevention. Interventions that take the challenges of immigration and disparities of generational acculturation will beneficial for substance abuse prevention in younger Latino/Hispanics (Unger et al. 2009, cited by Wagner et al., 2010, p.

In today’s society, being able to communicate or participate in the exchange of information effectively is an essential skill for much of the healthcare providers in America today. Providing patient-centered care involves learning to communicate effectively with various barriers even with those patients who speak a different language than English. There are patients with other ethnicities and culturally influenced health behaviors that can be different than the health care beliefs of the most clinicians in this country.

The demographics of the United States is changing to one that is multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual. Culture is a vital component in the health and wellness of individuals. Culture affects individuals' beliefs, definition of health, treatments, and interaction with healthcare providers. These beliefs may affect the patient’s compliance with medication or therapy. In order to address the diverse beliefs of today’s population the advance practice nurse must be culturally competent. Barker and DeNisco (2013) defined cultural

Multicultural competency and diversity are important factors within veterinary education. Being able to interact effectively and professionally with people from diverse backgrounds is necessary in today’s global world. People travel all over the world, whether to live, work, vacation, or attend school and it is inevitable that you will have to work with others both in and outside of veterinary school. I feel that as a country, America has made a lot of progress in the realm of multicultural competency in that there is overall less discrimination, ignorance, and hatred of people from other cultures. Yet, there are still many problems as individuals struggle with their own internal prejudices both in their personal and professional lives. There

“Cultural competence is everyday and reality based.” This expression is that cultural competence occurs everyday, yet is based off what is what one perceives first hand. Everyday we meet and see different cultures. Cultural competence is important for society as a whole. Culture has a special meaning to all; it can identify the human population into groups. Culture is passed down from generations, which include values and beliefs. Diversity in America is what makes it great a fine blending of all cultures. Being culturally competent is a challenge being a nurse has greatly increases my cultural awareness. Cultural competence is reality based to me meaning that our cultural competence should and must be founded from facts. The news does

Most definitely, America is a melting pot, it’s amazing how much diversity there is. You’re correct “. In this industry, it is important to not be prejudice, racist, or to simply feel that your rights, views, or feelings are more important than anyone else.” As healthcare providers, your goal should be to meet the needs of everyone despite personal feelings. Teamwork is very significant when working in the health field, if that team can master the acceptance of culture differences it can lead to a positive wave throughout the rest of the organization. Yes, “To overcome any cultural or any other difference one must be culturally competent.” I feel all industries should practice being culturally competent, in working to improve health, communication,

Mr. Gonzalez is a second generation Hispanic-American who grew up in a poverty stricken family. His mother became the sole provider when his father was incarcerated when he was only 7 years old. Mexican-American adolescents are at a very high risk for substance use and abuse and are far more likely to be arrested, 60%, than a white peer. (Tezler, Gonzales, & Fuligni. 2013) It was also found that clients in this population are more likely to be aggressive and engage in substance abuse than peers from other ethnicities. Research has also found that this group starts substance use at an earlier age which also puts them at risk for setting the stage for substance abuse disorders as adults as well. (Tezler, Gonzales, & Fuligni. 2013) This information is very relevant for the client because he has had a criminal history, has aggressive tendencies, and has engaged in substance use and abuse since the age of 10.

The perception I had of cultural competence before taking this course was that you were knowledgeable of understanding individualized aspects of a person. Most importantly, your ability to accept them for who they are, and what they believe in.

Multicultural competence is the ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures. There are four major components present when discussing multicultural competence: (1) the individual (me) must be aware of one’s own cultural views, (2) know ones attitude towards cultural differences, (3) Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, and (4) having cross-cultural skills (Adapted from class 2 and 3 definitions handout, as adapted from Pope, R.L. & Reynolds, A. L. (1997)). How does one gain this competency though? Is it ever truly obtainable? I would argue that every person, no matter upbringing or background, has the ability to become more multicultural competent. This semester we were

In the article “The relationship between mindfulness and multicultural counseling competence” the authors Ivers, Johnson, Clarke, Newsome, and Berry wanted to examine the implications of the association between Mindfulness and Multicultural Counseling Competence (MCC) on counselor’s education and practice. They describe MCC as the effectiveness of a counselor when providing therapy to a client from a different culture. A counselor who seeks information about other cultures is known to have multicultural knowledge, which will help him/her acquire multicultural awareness at the time of treating a client.

In the last 30 years there is significantly more Hispanic, Asian, and African American students enrolling in college. (US Dept. of Education) With the ever-changing demographical makeup, the need for inclusive teaching practices is evident. Preito (2011), declares the necessity for a scale in order to measure how well professors are integrating cultural competence into the classroom, creating the Multicultural Teaching Competencies Inventory as a feedback tool. While previous literature on multicultural professors' has been studied, conclusions focused on how students' were evaluating with regards to ethnicity of the professor. (Lee, 2010; Bavishi, Hebl, & Madera, 2010) Though focusing on students perceptions of their professors ethnicity remains

Pedro, a wounded veteran Mexican American male is struggling with alcoholism. Recently, Pedro became aware that he struggles with drinking after getting a DUI. While Pedro has accepted that he may have PTSD and has been placed on a waitlist for inpatient alcohol treatment he does not want to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in his own community. As a counselor it is important that we take cultural differences in consideration when treating Pedro. Pedro comes from many different backgrounds that could affect the way he is approached in a therapy session. First, Pedro is a the oldest son of his first generation migrant parents. It is important to look into his cultural background to see if being the eldest son could affect his perception

With many organizations expanding and becoming more global organizations, whose businesses deal with other countries, cultural diversity becomes more challenging. That is why it is important for organizations to create a cultural diversity training program to encourage employee from different backgrounds to come together and learn each other 's belief system which can enhance the organization 's ability to problem-solve. To do this successfully an organization needs to create an organizational climate that promotes a learning organization. Which learning organization was first coined by Peter Senge (Kopp, 2014). According to Kopp (2014), Senge defined a learning organization as “an organization where people continually expand their