Role of Diversity and Multiculturalism in the Health Center - Term Paper Example

Multicultural Perspectives of July 14, This paper is about the presentation of an in-service training to a hypothetical health sector that offers a range of medical and mental health service in a diverse cultural and ethnic setting. It looks at the general methods of handling cultural matters as well as some specific issues a practitioner should be sensitive to when handling people form the Asian-American, Arab-American and Latino communities. Keywords: diverse, multicultural, mental, health, psychology. Introduction Diversity and multicultural matters are very important elements in the discharge of health and psychological services to the American society. This therefore means that the in-service training must bring to bear the most important and vital matters that will enable different people from different backgrounds to get the best of results from the health service provider. The following matters will be handled in the presentation to ensure that the participants understand the institutional and professional obligations they have towards multiculturalism. Role of Diversity & Multiculturalism in the Health Center The presentation will focus on the sensitivity of diversity issues in the delivery of health services in America. The participants will be introduced to the central role of multiculturalism through the definitions of scholars. For instance, Pope & Vasquez (2007) states that diversity is vital in competency building for individual practitioners (p32). This is because each patient is defined by his or her cultural identity (Pope, 2011 p44). Additionally, Song (2005) states that diversity in ethnicity and culture leads to conflict (473). In America, Song states that the most common issues from multiculturalism can be attributed to the majority of Americans coping with immigrants, religious minorities and indigenous peoples (2005, p 473). The presentation will then look at the APA authoritative guidelines to health centers and practitioners which states that: 1. It is imperative for staff and members of a health facility to recognize cultural diversity 2. Institutions must understand the cultural and ethical factors of all the social groups that visit the hospitals (APA Guidelines, 2011). 3. It enables the mental health professionals to understand and resolve the problems of their patients better (APA Guidelines, 2011). 4. The implications of the failure to honor their multicultural obligations like loss of confidence by the wider community and possible sanctions by APA (APA Guidelines, 2011) and the Courts. Recommendations of the APA The presentation will then focus on the APA Guidelines laid out to help health institutions and practitioners to fulfill their multicultural obligations. These recommendations are laid out in the APA Guidelines (2011) as: 1. Classification of similarities of counseling models: This will be done by the institution and individual practitioners creating a framework for defining the ideal counseling models for the various ethnic groups. 2. Collection, evaluation and sensitivity to statistics of ethnic groups: The data of ethnic groups should be collected and practitioners should be identify the best ways to improve the experience of each group that visits the institution. 3. The blend of direct and non-direct methods of counseling: Practitioners need to identify the best combination of methods that work for each group. This improves with experience. 4. Cultural values in treatment: Practitioners need to identify which values of each ethnic group that manifests itself in the treatment. 5. Contemporary skills for working with specific ethnic populations: Practitioners need to identify recent matters and how they relate to the treatment of people from each ethnic group. For example, it can be assumed that hostilities towards Arab-Americans after 9/11 was obvious, thus a psychologist should find ways of treating Arab-American clients to live above such contemporary discriminatory issues. Practical Guidelines The APA has the following guidelines for practitioners in the process of assisting clients with diverse ethnic backgrounds (APA Guidelines, 2011). They include: 1. Education of their clients on the process of the psychological treatment. 2. The practitioner needs to build a familiarity with relevant research practice issues related to specific population groups that they serve. 3. Building the competency to categorize and identify unique features and characteristics of each group 4. Identifying how the individual links up to the wider society like family and community according to the standards of the social group. 5. Building a high degree of regard and respect for clients religious and cultural beliefs inherent in their backgrounds. 6. Communicating in a language that the client is familiar with and if the need arises, refer to a translator In addition to these general standards and expectations, there are some specific issues that a health practitioner needs to be sensitive to, when dealing with people of diverse ethnic, religious and social backgrounds. Although there is an endless list of diverse groups in America based on these standards, the training will zoom in on Asian-Americans, Arab-Americas and Latinos. Asian-Americans Meyers (2006) identifies that Asian-American are less likely to seek medical help than other groups of Americans (44). This therefore presents them as a group that needs to be given attention so that they build confidence in the American physical and mental health system. This is because the apathy suggest that most Asian-Americans are not familiar with the practices of the American health system. This therefore means that a mental health practitioner needs to spend more time familiarizing an Asian-American patient with the counseling process. Asian-Americans are seen by Suinn (2010) as people who are going through an acculturation process in America (p6). Acculturation is defined by Suinn as “the process of involving changes in values and beliefs for a given people” (2010, p6). This therefore indicates that Asian-Americans have a lot of challenges that they are going through in physical health and mental health. In terms of physical health research shows that there is an increase in smoking and alcohol use by Asians in America than in Asia (Suinn, 2010 p7). In terms of mental health, Asian-Americans are going through a lot of adjustment issues that leads to psychological distress like depression and suicide (Suinn, 2010, p8). This therefore means that the psychologist should be sensitive to these signs on examination. In summary, the syllabus on Asian-Americans will focus on: 1. Educating the Asian-American on psychological therapy and the general American health delivery system. 2. Emphasis on the acculturation matters that affect Asian-Americans and 3. Look out for substance abuse and Arab-Americans Granello defines Arab-Americans as “one of the least meltable of all immigrants to come to the United States” (2008, p44). This shows that Arab-Americas are amongst the groups in America that retains their unique ethic, social and religious identity. This therefore suggests that the health facility would have to get a good idea of the original traits of Arab-Americans as it is in the Arab world. However, Granello states that the Arab culture is not well understood in America so there is the need for health professionals to study and understand the culture of Arabs to be able to discharge their service effectively. Secondly, Granello states that there is a wide diversity amongst Arabs; there is the Middle Eastern, North Africa, South East Asian, South West Asian and Sub-Saharan Arabs. So it is best to identify the basic tenets of the Arab-American identity and then grow to develop understanding about other ideas and traits. Some of the most striking traits of Arab-Americans are strong adherence to religion, open communication with people of the same sex, time is not fixed for Arabs, professional counseling is not common in Arab communities (Granello, 2010 p62). It is therefore ideal for health professionals, particularly psychologists to do the following: 1. Build a basic understanding of the Arab-American identity and explore it to understand it further. 2. Respect the religious beliefs and the reliance on Divine will amongst Arab-American patients. 3. Understand how Arab-Americans stratify the society on the basis of sex. 4. Give room for delays of Arab-American patients during appointments. 5. Educate the Arab-American patient on the role of professional counseling in society. Latino Patients The Latino population stands at 20% of America of Americas overall population (Sadie, 2005 p58). This therefore shows that they are a dominant and growing segment of the population of this country. Sadie (2005) states that amongst most Latinos, professional therapy is the last option they have on their minds (p58). She identifies that 50% of Latinos never return after their first therapy session. This is because of the low standard of living they often have which makes it difficult for them to pay the cost of professional health. There are also a lot of language barriers since most of them are monolingual. Thus the best option for health practitioners in helping this group of people by a health professional is to: 1. Promote the importance of mental health and therapy to the Latino community. 2. Find ways of reducing cost of consultation for Latinos. 3. Provide translation services for Latino clients in the health center by increasing the number of translators in the center. In conclusion, the presentation will promote the individual and collective efforts of the health practitioner and the health center respectively through a general and specific framework. References APA Guidelines (2011) APA Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic and Culturally Diverse Populations Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/provider-guidelines.aspx Accessed: July 13, 2011 Granello, D. H. (2008) “The Cultural Heritage of Arab Americans and Implications for Counseling” Journal of Psychology and Ethics Vol 72 No 3 March, 2008 pp 44 - 64 Meyers, L. (2006) “Asian-American Mental Health” Monitor Staff February 2006 Vol 37 No 2 page 44 Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb06/health.aspx Pope, K. S & Vasquez J. T. (2007) “Steps in Ethical Decision-making” in Ethics in Psychotherapy & Counseling: A Practical Guide 3Edn by Vasaquez J. T & Pope K. S. Jossey-Bass Publishers, John-Wiley & Sons. Pope, K. S. (2011) “Psychologists & Detainee Interrogations: The Key Decisions, Opportunities Lost & Lessons Learned” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology Vol 1 Sadie, D. (2005) “Closing the Gap for Latino Patients” Monitor Staff January 2005 Vol 36 No 1 p 58 Song, S. (2005) “Majority Norms, Multiculturalism & Gender Equality” in The American Political Science Review Vol 99 No 4, Nov. 2005 pp 473 – 489 Suinn, R M (2010) “Reviewing Acculturation and Asian Americans: How Acculturation Affects Health, Adjustment, School Achievement, and Counseling” Asian-American Journal of Psychology 2010, Vol 1 No 1 5 – 17 Further Reading Arredondo, P., & Perez, P. (2003). Counseling paradigms and Latina/o Americans. In F. Harper & J. McFadden (Eds.), Culture and counseling: New approaches (pp. 115-132). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Atkinson, D., & Gim, R. (1989). “Asian-American cultural identity and attitudes toward mental health services”. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36, 209–212. Cross-Cultural Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Review: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/crosscult.html Gallardo, M. E., & McNeill, B. W. (Eds.) (2009). Intersections of multiple identities: A casebook of evidence-based practices with diverse populations. New York: Routledge. Multicultural Guidelines — American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/pi/multiculturalguidelines/homepage.html Vandiver, B. J. Fhagen-Smith, P. E., Cokley, K. O., Cross, W. E., Jr., & Worrell, F. C. (2001). Cross nigrescence model: From theory to scale to theory. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 29, 174-200. Read More