Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 1

Cultural competency in assessment Cultural competency in assessment practices with newcomer families practices with newcomer families

and communitiesand communities

Assessing Assessment, Best Practices and New Research

The 12th Annual Assessment Conference

May 1st, 2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Trauma Counsellor

How do we help people?How do we help people?

� Identity & Language barriers to access health/mental health/social services

� Cultural Competency and Cultural Safety

� Widening the lens of helpers

� Context of cultural meaning

� Acculturation stress

Linguistic CompetenceLinguistic Competence

� Providing bilingual/bicultural staff

� Foreign language interpretation services, having connections with workers/advocates

� Materials developed and tested for specific cultural, ethnic, and linguistic groups

DeSouza (2008)

Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 2

Acculturation StressAcculturation Stress

� Economic difficulties

� Language barriers

� Coping with family dynamics

� Culture shock and isolation

Impact of Acculturation on Impact of Acculturation on Family DynamicsFamily Dynamics

� Parenting in a new culture

� Changes in parental authority

� Reversal roles

� Intergenerational values

Development outcomes Development outcomes for immigrant children and youthfor immigrant children and youth

� Contextual factors

� Family socio-economic status (SES)

� Parent characteristics, family structure,

and extra-familial environments

� Important to address both risk factors

and resilience of immigration

Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 3

A Relational Story…A Relational Story…

"It's not only about the migrants, it's about the migrants and us as a majority . . . just like in a couple we're part of the equation"

Cécile Rousseau, Director of the Transcultural Child Psychiatry Clinic at the Montreal Children's Hospital (2013)

Cultural CompetencyCultural Competency

• Cultural competency refers to the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully to people of all ethnic backgrounds, cultures, classes, languages, races, and other diversities Lansford, Deater-Deckard, & Bornstein (2007)

• It also relates to the capacity of being skilled in understanding interactions among members of a culture on their own terms Ball (2008)

Cultural SafetyCultural Safety

� “A cultural safe practice progresses from cultural awareness through to cultural sensitivity and on to cultural safety”Ramsden (2003)

� “Cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity terms are separated and not interchangeable concepts with cultural safety” Koptie (2009)

Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 4

Multidimensional Model of Cultural Multidimensional Model of Cultural Competency (MDCC)Competency (MDCC)

Dimension 1

� Understanding the process of personal identity formation

Dimension 2

� Discerning the three attributes of a culturally competent helping professional: awareness, knowledge, and skills

Sue & Sue (2013)

MDCC cont’MDCC cont’

Dimension 3

� Intervening at a professional level as well as at organizational and societal levels

� Showing intent to address the client’s systems that may be/are detrimental for the client’s well-being

Sue & Sue (2013)

Cultural Safety Cultural Safety

� It is defined by participants in a program or by recipients of care

DeSouza (2008)

� Service providers aim to improve clients’ feelings of being respected, included, and protected in their cultural identity, values, beliefs, and chosen goals

Ball (2008)

Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 5

Cultural Safety PrinciplesCultural Safety Principles

� Protocols

� Personal knowledge

� Process

� Partnerships

� Positive purpose

Cultural Humility Cultural Humility

� Practitioners’ self-awareness process

� Realistic and ongoing self-appraisal

� Lifelong learning commitment

Tervalon & Murray-Garcia (1998)

ReferencesReferences

� Ball, J. (2008, February). Cultural safety in practice with children, families and communities. Poster presented at The Early Years Interprofessional Research and Practice Conference, Vancouver.

� DeSouza, R. (2008). Wellness for all: The possibilities of cultural safety and cultural competency in New Zealand. Journal of Research in Nursing, 13(125), 1–11.

� Koptie, S. (2009). Irihapety Ramsden: The public narrative on cultural safety. First Peoples Child and Family Review, 4(2), 30–43.

� Lansford, K. Deater-Deckard, & M. Borsntein (Eds.)., Immigrant families in contemporary society. NY: The Guildford Press.

� Rousseau, C. (2013) A relational story video. Multicultural Mental Helth Resource Centre. http://www.multiculturalmentalhealth.ca/cecile-rousseau-a-relational-story/

� Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (Eds.). (2013). Counselling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (6th ed.). NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

� Trevalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2), 117–125.

Cultural competency in assessment

practices with newcomer families and

communities

21/04/2014

Andrea Sola Rapaport, Counsellor 6

QuestionsQuestions

Thank You!Thank You!