The Necessity of an Emic Paradigm in Psychology

This article provides an overview of developments in the field of Black/Africana/Pan African psychology over the past 50 years. It has evolved toward production of psychological knowledge grounded in an emic cultural paradigm consistent with the understandings emerging from classical African civilization and across the Diaspora. The historical context for the development of a Black/Africana cultural paradigm is discussed, including an analysis of the failure of Eurowestern psychology to effectively address the mental health needs of people of African ancestry, particularly as exemplified in the experience of Non-immigrant Africans in the Americas (NIAAs). Readers are introduced to the rise of African-centered cultural frames of reference, values, and psychological models, practices, and strategies. The development of Optimal Psychology or Optimal Conceptual Theory (OCT) is highlighted. OCT is a comprehensive theory successfully implemented, utilized, and researched for more than 40 years. The production of psychological knowledge built upon a cultural paradigm rooted in the wisdom tradition of African deep thought traceable to the birthplace of all humankind is essential to a comprehensive understanding of humanity and will be described.

Make It Personal: A Qualitative Investigation of White Counselors’ Multicultural Awareness Development

In this qualitative research study, we explored the multicultural awareness development of 12 multiculturally adept non-Latino White counselors. Using a grounded theory approach, we found that early personal experience with diversity was the most important contributing factor in developing understanding and empathy for oppression among White counselors. This factor appeared to lay the foundation for an ongoing personal initiative to develop multicultural awareness. Subsequently, counselors tried to maximize what they could learn from their culturally diverse clients, work environments, coursework, supervision, and mentoring opportunities. Their personal initiative also inspired them to persevere despite the difficult emotions and conflict inherent in this developmental process. Results suggest the need to incorporate personally transformative experiences in counselor training and to prepare counselors for the emotional challenges of multicultural awareness development.

National Expert Validation of COACH: Congruence with Exemplary Practice and Suggestions for Improvement

The content and social validity of an educational planning tool named COACH (Choosing Options and Accommodations for Children) were explored through two studies. Study 1 presents questionnaire feedback from six groups of experts (N = 78) in the field of deaf-blindness and multiple disabilities regarding the purpose, philosophy, content, process, and presentation of COACH. Study 2 presents social validation feedback from parents whose children are deaf-blind and have multiple disabilities regarding a set of valued life outcomes included in COACH. The combined results of these studies provide initial validation that COACH is congruent with exemplary practice and offer consumer-based suggestions for its potential improvement.

The Personal Beliefs Scale as a Measure of Individual Differences in Commitment to the Mind-Body Beliefs Proposed by F. F. Centore

F. F. Centore's (1979) taxonomy of mind-body beliefs centers on the definition of what it means to be a person. The Personal Beliefs Scale was developed to measure the relative influence of six mind-body positions in the thinking of the ordinary person. Responses from a sample of 251 undergraduates gave estimated split-half reliabilities of .83 or greater for each of the six subscales. Factor analysis provided substantive support for the Centore taxonomy. Implications of the mind-body issue are considered.

Optimal Theory and Career Assessment: Towards an Inclusive, Global Perspective

This article explores the impact of limiting the analysis of human experience to one cultural mindset using career development and assessment as a field of inquiry to illustrate the point. The aim is to reveal considerations for the enhancement of the applicability of psychological theory to broader segments of the world's population, particularly African and other so-called third world populations. Specific attention is given the role of worldview in social context and the shaping of inquiry and research; the natural limits of a fragmented, yet hegemonic mindset; the value of an alternate perspective in expanding scope and insight for future reference; and, recommendations for implementing these insights in career assessment with implications for career counselor training.

Multicultural Counseling as the "Fourth Force"

Recent contributors to the multicultural counseling debate seem to suggest that multicultural counseling has almost attained the status of a new paradigm, a new theory. This article examines the field of multicultural counseling as a new paradigm in counseling theory and suggests that although there has been a heightened awareness in multicultural counseling theory, the need to recognize the cultural and political context of human development in clinical practice has been very slow. It is argued that the progress made seems to be only in theory and research and that as scientist-practitioners, we need to work hard at supporting competent practice. A call is made to the profession for action.

Disability as Cultural Diversity

In recent years, the field of counseling has begun to push for a greater awareness and broader definition of cultural diversity. However, although ethnic/racial and gender diversity has been addressed, clients who have disabilities continue to be an overlooked population. This article addresses the disability of hearing impairments, and extends cultural diversity to this disability as a means of improving our work with clients who are hearing impaired Criteria for understanding hearing impairments are given, and methods of communication are presented Misconceptions about the deaf and the hard of hearing are discussed, with an emphasis on the special characteristics of this population. Issues in counseling the hearing impaired are outlined, focusing on communication dificulties, psychological assessment, and treatment techniques. Finally, recommendations regarding research, training, and practice are given.

Multicultural Training

The Multicultural Program Development Pyramid is a five-tiered framework outlining stages of multicultural counseling training (MCT) program development. The pyramid is intended to serve as a guide to help program developers formulate their own unique MCT programs. The pyramid lays out a path of critical choice points in MCT development, beginning with the generation of an explicit philosophy of training and proceeding through the stages of identifying training objectives, selecting instructional strategies, choosing from among several proposed program designs, and evaluating the program. Use of the pyramid encourages the critical examination of a full range of choices at each stage. Implications of the pyramid for current MCT, the scientist-practitioner model, and the future of MCT research and development are discussed.

Similarity and Difference in Multicultural Counseling:

Similarity and difference have been explored within the counseling psychology and the social psychology literature. The counseling psychology literature has studied the influence of similarity and difference on clients' preferences for counselors. The theory driven social psychology literature has investigated the influence of similarity and difference on subsequent relationship development. Whereas the counseling research has examined similarity and difference within the context of counseling, social psychology research has examined similarity and difference within the context of co-workers, roommates, and acquaintances. Unfortunately, there has been little dialogue between these 2 parallel areas of investigation. This manuscript is an attempt then to provide a bridge between the counseling and social psychological literature. It is hoped that this selected review will provide an integrated approach from which to examine future research questions related to the impact of similarity and difference on the counseling process.

Multidimensional Cultural Competence

This comment on the major contribution addresses the conceptual richness and strengths of the model; offers some possible extensions to enhance its application to counseling psychology; and discusses its implications for practice, training, and research. Academic programs can use the multiple dimensions of cultural competence (MDCC) model to assess their curriculum and policies and design new approaches to infusing multiculturalism. The conceptual framework of the MDCC also can be used to customize counseling services to better meet the needs of a diverse client base. Future implications for use of this model as a transformative tool for counseling psychology are also explored.

The Association of Black Psychologists

The Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) was founded on September 2, 1968, in San Francisco, California, in response to the American Psychological Association’s failure to address the mental health needs of the Black community. This revolutionary idea was borne out of the efforts of Black early career psychologists and student activists from across the United States. ABPsi, as the first national ethnic psychological association, has led the field of psychology in the areas of racial/ethnic identity, cultural psychology, multicultural competencies, positive psychology, and social justice. ABPsi publishes a peer-reviewed journal ( Journal of Black Psychology) and a quarterly newsletter ( Psych Discourse). More recently, ABPsi has established a licensing, certification, and proficiency program in African-centered Black psychology. A brief history of ABPsi and its relationship to the field of counseling psychology is discussed.

Preventing racism and promoting social justice: person-centered and environment-centered interventions

This paper proposes that prevention of racism is a social justice issue in light of the pervasively detrimental effects of racism on all members of our society and the especially traumatizing effects for people of color. Review of contact theory and its extensions provides the theoretical background for person-focused prevention strategies. Specifically, the paper describes a model primary prevention program to address the development of racist attitudes and beliefs in White children as a way of stopping future racist traumatization of people of color. Advocating for public policy changes is discussed as a valuable environment-centered prevention tool in working toward social justice. Implications for training incorporating multicultural counseling competencies, critical psychology, prevention science, and advocacy are discussed.

Mental health nursing and cultural diversity

The focus of this article is on ethnic cultural difference. The establishment of a bi-cultural model of health care delivery has been a recent priority in New Zealand. Bi-culturalism has become an important concept for Maori and Pakeha (Europeans), working in partnership in the planning and implementation of mental health services in New Zealand. Adoption of the principles of respect and recognition of the uniqueness of different cultural identities, by nurses, has meant that clients who use mental health services in New Zealand are beginning to benefit from nursing care that is culturally competent.

A comparison of Culture-Free Self-Esteem Scale means from different child and adolescent groups

The Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory (CFSEI-2) was administered to 7 groups of children: 84 White Catholic school students from a New Orleans suburb, 78 White rural public school students from Virginia, 62 Hispanic Migrant student from Florida, 90 Aboriginal and White students from an isolated Canadian community, 199 African American students attending an inner city school, 60 Hispanic and White international students from Venezuela, and 61 Innuit students from isolated community in Labrador. The four elder groups also wrote three words to describe themselves (the Adjective Generation Technique [AGT]). Significant differences in responding between groups were found on all CFSEI-2 scales and for AGT favorability means. Although several possible reasons for these results are discussed, we conclude that the CFSEI-2 is not culture-free. Recommendations are: change the title of the test to avoid misrepresentation, limit test usage to elementary school children, develop an adolescent version with age appropriate language, and construct local norms before using the CFSEI-2 to make decisions about a child's self-esteem. To determine relevance of scores, a team of professionals and lay persons should review items from this or any test given to children who may be different from the normative or standardization group.

Culture and meaning: expanding the metaphorical repertoire of family therapy

This essay proposes that a family therapy founded on a contemporary, postmodern perspective demands an expanded range of metaphors for the family and the work of therapy. It describes a perspective that emphasizes a view of the family as a culture, as opposed to a system. A cultural perspective naturally addresses issues of meaning and language, narrative, politics, and practices of power-critical contemporary concerns not adequately encompassed by traditional systemic formulations. The essay explores the relationship between theory and metaphor, and contrasts the views of persons and of the family offered by the metaphors of culture and system. Case illustrations demonstrate how a cultural view effectively fashions an expanded therapeutic discourse, shifting the focus of family therapy from normative prescriptions for family "functionality" to issues of intercultural harmony. This shift in emphasis also extends to individual work, where the therapeutic task is construed as a peace-making between conflicting stories that intersect in the client's life.

Quality of life as context for planning and evaluation of services for people with disabilities

Quality of life has become a dominant theme in planning and evaluating services for people with disabilities. This article reviews definitions of quality of life, explores the concept from the perspective of the optimal theory of personal well-being, and surveys the research on the concept and its implications for planning and evaluating services. This article explores the subjective nature of life quality, particularly for people with disabilities, and relates the concept to both cultural norms and universal human values and needs. Each person experiences life, and disability, in unique ways. Practitioners need to consider quality-of-life issues as a context in planning and evaluating quality services.