Being White makes it easier to assimilate into the dominant culture and to partake in unearned privileges many White people enjoy but do not acknowledge. Most White people perceive themselves as unbiased, but such self-perception may truly impede one from taking responsibility for one’s own prejudices (Sue & Sue, 2016). White healthcare professionals have a special responsibility to understand their own privileges, biases, racism, and discrimination so that they may develop a positive relationship within counseling sessions. Healthcare Professional Consideration: National surveys do not have a historical track record of asking White people meaningful questions about their racial identity (Schildkraut, 2017). Healthcare professionals should promote research that includes questions about racial identity. Assessment and treatment It is important for healthcare professionals to approach every individual patient with a cognizance of the possible various intersecting identities within the patient, but without a stereotype of the patient based on preconceived notions of these intersecting identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, LGBTQ status). Implementing the practice of cultural humility may flummox healthcare professionals as they approach patients in a clinical setting (Schildkraut, 2017). The following example from Wyatt (n.d.) illuminates some key elements of providing patient care with cultural humility. An interracial couple, an African American father and a White mother, come into therapy because their child was kicked out of school for fighting and the father was called into child protective services for spanking his child. When they entered the office, the father was very angry and the mother was getting extremely upset, trying to calm him down. The White therapist suggested meeting with the father alone first. When he met with the father, rather than trying to silence his rage, he joined with him by stating, “It sounds like you’re furious with the situation that’s happened; you’re tired of it.” The father was able to calm down at that point, as the White therapist was allowing him to be angry in his presence and was acknowledging that there might be a reason for anger. The therapist then asked the father if his disciplining method had anything to do with wanting to protect his child. The father responded that, yes, he was afraid his child, “a Black kid,” was at risk of going to prison if he was fighting at school. The father did not want that for his child and was frightened. By providing room for the father to express his rage and his fear, the therapist was able to make the clinical session more meaningful. Healthcare professionals who practice cultural humility also recognize that assessment tools and treatment protocols may not be appropriate for all patients. Historically, many therapeutic strategies employed in patient care were developed without empirically supported research with ethnic minorities (Sue & Sue, 2016). However, healthcare professionals should not rely solely on manualized treatment protocols to guide their interventions, as such an approach can fail to appreciate patients’ unique experiences and the effect of differing social environments. Rather, when employing a research-based therapeutic practice, healthcare professionals should adapt the approach in accordance with the patients’ values, experiences, and preferences while understanding the influence of the broader societal context (Jackson, 2015). Through facilitating a respectful partnership that allows patients to take the lead in narrating their experiences and in identifying personal treatment goals, healthcare professionals can create an environment that appreciates patients’ perspectives.
Self-Assessment Quiz Question #8 When exploring one’s own beliefs about White identify, it is important to acknowledge that: a. Most White people perceive themselves as biased. b. White identity theory was first developed to discount the idea that White identity exists. c. National surveys often ask White people questions about their racial identity. d. Being White makes it easier to assimilate into the dominant culture.
Table 6 outlines the important aspects of the multicultural perspective in clinical settings. The considerations outlined in Table 6 require healthcare professionals to balance many different facets of patients and their lived experiences. It is especially important in treatment to adhere to these guidelines, as it sets up a therapeutic environment in which healthcare professional and patients are equal, while forcing healthcare professionals to consider the validity of various worldviews and the structural inequities that contribute to the problems and issues patients bring into therapeutic relationships. Table 6: Multicultural Perspectives in Providing Healthcare 1. Provides the opportunity for two persons – from different cultural perspectives – to disagree without one being right and the other wrong. 2. Tolerates and encourages a diverse and complex perspective. 3. Allows for more than one answer to a problem and for more than one way to arrive at a solution. 4. Recognizes that a failure to understand or accept another worldview can have detrimental consequences. 5. Takes a broad view of culture by recognizing the following variables: ethnographic (ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, language usage, ability, LGBTQ status); demographic (age, gender, gender identity, place of residence); status (social, economic, educational factors); affiliations (formal memberships, informal networks). 6. Conceives of culture as complex when we count the hundreds or perhaps even thousands of culturally learned identities and affiliations that people assume at one time or another. 7. Conceives of culture as dynamic as one of such culturally learned identities replaces another in salience. 8. Uses methods and strategies and defines goals constituent with life expectations and values. 9. Views behaviors as meaningful when they are linked to culturally-learned expectations and values. 10. Acknowledges as significant within-group differences for any particular ethnic or nationality group. 11. Recognizes that no one style of counseling – theory of school – is appropriate for all populations and situations. 12. Recognizes the part that societal structures play in patient’s lives. Note . Adapted in part from Gonzale et al., 1994.
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Book Code: SWNY1224
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