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Individual and Cultural Diversity

This unit is about providing psychologists with professional guidelines and resources on working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds (i.e., individual and group differences). These differences include ethnicity, age/developmental stage, disability, socioeconomic class, religion/spirituality, gender and sexuality, and language. Psychologists may rely on these guidelines and information to uphold and maintain non-discriminatory, culturally sensitive clinical practice. It aims to ensure that all clients of various backgrounds are provided with culturally-sensitive psychological services.  

Competencies required of psychologists working in diverse settings include:

  • Awareness of individual cultural identity and values in relation to professional practice

  • Awareness of and compliance with basic principles of diversity and inclusion set by organisation

  • Demonstrating sensitivity to diversity and inclusiveness, and adopting a non-judgemental stance in professional activities

  • Awareness of methods to work with different groups and cultures, and employment of culturally appropriate skills and techniques in professional practice

  • Knowledge of policies and procedures to deal with discriminatory behaviours

Here are some ideas and resources to spark your learning and thinking: 

 

Counselling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 8th Ed. (2019

Source: Derald Wing Sue, David Sue, Helen Neville, and Laura Smith (New jersey, USA: Wiley)

https://www.wiley.com/en-sg/Counseling+the+Culturally+Diverse:+Theory+and+Practice,+8th+Edition-p-9781119448242

Covers theory, research and practice issues in working with culturally diverse populations. Issues of diversity include class, ethnicity, language, disability, age and sexuality.

Understand-ing the Psychology of Diversity (2017)

Source: Bruce E. Blaine and Kimberly J. McClure Brenchley (Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc)

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/understanding-the-psychology-of-diversity/book259300

Provides overview of various topics within diversity, including race, gender, sex, weight, age, and coping with social stigma.

Disability as Diversity: Developing Cultural Competence (2019)

Source: Erin E. Andrews (Oxford University Press)

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/disability-as-diversity-9780190652319?cc=sg&lang=en&#

This is a book that offers practical suggestions for clinicians and researchers who work with people with disabilities in order to be culturally effective in all aspects of assessment, intervention, and research.

Psychology Testing Across the Lifespan 8th Ed. (2019

Source: Bill Van Ornum, Linda L. Dunlap, and Milton Shore (Pearson)

https://www.pearson.ch/HigherEducation/Pearson/EAN/9780131835306/Psychological-Testing-Across-the-Lifespan

This book discusses issues and adaptations in psychological testing with different age groups.

Ethics for Psychology (2009)

Source: Francis D. Ronald (Blackwell PBS)

Ethics for Psychologists (2nd ed.) is a comprehensive handbook covering the full range of ethical challenges that confront today's working psychologists—both in their practice and in research. The book explains the development of ethical theory and its philosophical underpinnings, along with contemporary international covenants and formal ethical codes from around the world. There is also a greatly expanded section featuring case studies and suggested resolutions encountered in all types of practices, including business consulting, counseling, clinical, forensic, military, and research psychology for immediate application.

Handbook of Gender & Sexuality in Psycho-logical Assessment (2016)

Source: Virginia M. Brabender and Joni L. Mihura (Routledge)

https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315769387

Provides a comprehensive overview of how issues of gender and sexuality can impact both the assessor and the client during psychological assessment. It includes some tools for reducing bias and improving psychologists' ability to explore gender and sexuality issues during the assessment phase.

The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality for Clinicians: Using Research in Your Practice (2012)

Source: Jamie D. Aten, Kari A. O’Grady and Everett L. Worthington Jr. (American Psychological Association)

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-28664-000

This book offer a practical and functional understanding of the empirical literature on the psychology of religion and spirituality of, while at the same time outlining clinical implications, assessments, and strategies for counseling and psychotherapy.

Spirituality in Clinical Practice (2017)

Source: Thomas G. Palante (American Psychological Association)

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/scp

A book that focuses on the therapeutic processes in spiritually oriented psychotherapy with individual chapters on the therapeutic relationship, assessment and case conceptualization, intervention, evaluation and termination,and culturally and ethically sensitive interventions.

Evidence-Based Psycho-logical Practice with Ethnic Minorities: Culturally Informed Research and Clinical Strategies (2016)

Source: Nolan Zane, Guillermo Bernal, and Frederick T. L. Leong (APA)

https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4317392

An essential component of evidence-based psychological practice (EBPP) is attending to the ethnocultural heritage of the client. The chapters address critical research issues such as measurement and design/methodology, andexamples show how EBPP can be tailored to meet the specific needs of ethnic minorities

Disability as a Diversity Variable: A Call to Action within Psychology (Diversity Part 1)

Source: APA Office on Disability Issues in Psychology

This is a 3-part series by the APA Office on Disability Issues in Psychology. The video was taken during a diversity training session by psychologists Julie L. Williams, PhD, and Linda Mona, PhD, both with physical disabilities. Videos cover personal experiences from work and home, an overview of disability models and attitudes towards disability, and suggestions to improve interactions with people with disabilities.

Disability as a Diversity Variable: A Call to Action within Psychology (Diversity Part 2)

Source: APA Office on Disability Issues in Psychology

Disability as a Diversity Variable: A Call to Action within Psychology (Diversity Part 3)

Source: APA Office on Disability Issues in Psychology

American Psycho-logical Association Psycho-threapy Video Series – Clincial Gero-psychology

Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/browse?query=series:Clinical%20Geropsychology

APA’s clinical geropsychology video series. Covers mental health issues of older adults and therapy with them

General Guidelines for working with Diverity Issues

Guidelines for Non-discriminatory Practice (2017) | Source: Canadian Psychological Association

https://cpa.ca/aboutcpa/committees/ethics/resources

Provides guidelines for evaluating the extent to which one’s work falls within the parameters of non-discriminatory practice.

Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality (2017) | Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines.pdf

The guidelines outline an understanding of diversity and its considerations within practice, research, consultation and education (including supervision). 

 

Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organisational Change for Psychologists (2002) | Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines-archived.pdf

Provides the rationale and needs for addressing multiculturalism and diversity in education, training, research, practice, and organizational change; (b) basic information, relevant terminology, current empirical research on diversity (c) references to enhance on-going education, training, research, practice, and organizational change.

Practice Guidelines (2017) | Source: British Psychological Society

https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/BPS%20Practice%20Guidelines%20%28Third%20Edition%29.pdf

General practice guidelines with recommendations on working with people from diverse backgrounds

Fung, K., & Lo, T. (2016). An Integrative Clinical Approach to Cultural Competent Psychotherapy | Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 47(2), 65-73

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10879-016-9341-8

This article provides a framework for clinicians to include culturally-relevant variables into their practice

Sub-topic: Disabilities

APA Guidelines for Assessment of and Intervention with People with Disabilities | Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/pi/disability/resources/assessment-disabilities

The Guidelines aims to increase discussion, training and awareness about disabilities amongst psychologists.

 

Understanding Persons with Disabilities| Source: National Council of Social Services

https://www.ncss.gov.sg/Press-Room/Publications/Detail-Page?id=Understanding-Persons-with-Disabilities

Gives an overview of disability types, educates people about the barriers faced by persons with disabilities, corrects some common misperceptions and provides tips on how to better interact with persons with disabilities.

Sub-topic: Age

Psychotherapy and Older Adults – Resource Guide| Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/pi/aging/resources/guides/psychotherapy

Provides a list of resources for adapting psychotherapy with older adults

Sub-topic: Sexual and Gender Minorities

Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Non-conforming People (2015)| Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/transgender.pdf

Practice guidelines for working with transgender and gender non-conforming clients

Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Clients (2012) | Source: American Psychological Association

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/amp-a0024659.pdf

Practice guidelines for working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients

Guidelines for Psychologists Working with Gender, Sexuality, and Relationship Diversity (2019) | Source: British Psychological Society (BPS)

https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/Guidelines%20for%20psychologists%20working%20with%20gender%2C%20sexuality%20and%20relationship%20diversity.pdf

Practice guidelines for working sexual, gender and relationship diversity

Sub-topic: Religion & Spirituality

Spiritual and Religious Competencies for Psychologists (2013) | Source: Vieten et al. (American Psychological Association, APA)

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/rel-a0032699.pdf

A proposed set of spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists.

Sub-topic: Ethnicity

APA Guidelines on Race and Ethnicity in Psychology (2019) | Source: American Psychological Association (APA)

https://www.apa.org/about/policy/guidelines-race-ethnicity.pdf

The APA Guidelines represent general principles that are intended to be aspirational in nature and are designed to provide suggestions to psychologists in working with ethnic, linguistic, and culturally diverse populations