For Guru Olivia Only

Week 2: Diversity and Cultural Sensitivity

Consider the following two scenarios:

· Victor, a high school guidance counselor, begins his interview with Ms. Reyes. “In order to help determine your son’s scholarship prospects, I will need to know more about your financial situation. I just have a few questions to ask you.” “I do not know,” Mrs. Reyes says. “I cannot really tell you anything without my husband and father here.” "You’re in the United States now,” Victor says. ”You don’t have to ask your ‘men folk’ here.” Mrs. Reyes looks down at her shoes anxiously, and then at the clock. For the rest of the interview, she mumbles and gives one-word answers.

· As a new employee at a local family services agency, Sharon is eager to get started on her first home visit. She is here to conduct a preliminary assessment interview regarding early intervention strategies for the family’s toddler. She is especially excited about the possibility of helping others rise above challenges to get a good education like she was able to do, with help from supportive parents and community services. A man opens the door a crack and peers out. He asks what she wants, takes a good look at her suit and high heels, tells her he is not interested, and shuts the door. Sharon wonders what went wrong. After all, she, like the man, is African American and practically a neighbor. Why did he refuse to see her?

This week, you will learn the importance of acknowledging and taking into account diversity and related issues and accommodating for differences in human services interviewing. You will examine personal bias and you will also explore the concept of the oppressor.

Objectives

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

· Analyze interviewing challenges related to diversity

· Analyze the impact of personal biases on the interview process

· Apply strategies to mitigate bias in the interview process

· Analyze factors that contribute to the perception of oppression in the interview process

· Apply strategies for reducing the perception of oppression in human services interviewing

Learning Resources

Required Readings

McClam, T., & Woodside, M. (2012). The helping process: Assessment to termination. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

· Chapter 3, “Assessment Skills”

· Chapter 4, “Effective Intake Interviewing” (Review)

· Chapter 5, “Interviewing Skills”

Deutsch, M. (2006). A framework for thinking about oppression and its change. Social Justice Research, 19(1), 7–41.

Montalvo, F. F. (2009). Ethnoracial gap in clinical practice with Latinos. Clinical Social Work Journal, 37(4), 277–286.

National Association of Social Workers. (2015). Standards and indicators for cultural competence in social work practice. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7dVckZAYUmk%3d&portalid=0

Pronin, E. (2007). Perception and misperception of bias in human judgment. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(1), 37–43.

Pronin, E., & Kugler, M. (2007). Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: The introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(4), 565–578.

Optional Resource

IAT Corp. (n.d.). Project implicit: Take a demo test. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/takeatest.html

Discussion: Diversity and Interview Approaches

Imagine what would happen if you sat down to interview someone to find you do not speak the same language. Using hand gestures, body language, and facial expressions, you might be able to glean some information, but your interview might not yield anything meaningful, and it likely would be frustrating for both you and the interviewee.

Clearly, the ability to speak and understand one another is critical for any interview to be successful. But to communicate effectively, an interviewer must also “speak” the culture. In today’s diverse world, it is important for individuals entering the human services field to have an appreciation for diversity that goes beyond race, geography, and ethnicity to encompass other types of diversity as well.

An interviewer must also be aware of his or her own biases and beliefs. A self-reflective and culturally competent interviewer is better able to understand and help the interviewee, and also enhances his or her own worldview and effectiveness.

In this Discussion, you will explore your own personal diversity-related characteristics and biases, and you will consider strategies for mitigating effects of bias on interviews you might conduct.

To prepare for this Discussion:   THIS IS DUE WEDNESDAY

· Review Chapter 3 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination. Consider how an interviewer’s personal biases could harm the assessment phase of a case. Focus on the sections titled “In More Depth: Forming Impressions of Others,” which examines snap and systematic judgments and cognitive distortions, and “Exercise 3, Careful Assessment,” which describes examples of personal bias and strategies for mitigating it.

· Review Chapter 4 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination. Focus on the section addressing the attitudes and characteristics of interviewers.

· Review the article titled “Ethnoracial Gap in Clinical Practice with Latinos.”

· Review the article titled, “Perception and Misperception of Bias in Human Judgment.”

· Review the article titled “Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice.”

· Review the article titled “Valuing Thoughts, Ignoring Behavior: The Introspection Illusion as a Source of the Bias Blind Spot.”

· Select three personal characteristics related to your background, culture, gender, race, or another aspect of diversity.

· Consider how, if you were the interviewer, an interviewee might react to the personal characteristics you selected.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 4

· Post by Day 4 a brief description of the three diversity-related personal characteristics you selected. Explain some challenges these diversity-related characteristics might pose to you as an interviewer. Then explain how personal biases could impact the interviewing process. Finally, explain strategies a human services professional could employ to mitigate effects of bias.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

THIS IS DUE SATURDAY

Assignment: Preventing Perceptions of “The Oppressor”

It often takes time and effort for a human services professional to build trust and rapport with an interviewee. This can be especially difficult when an interviewee superimposes perceptions of “the oppressor” onto an interviewer. Interviewees often view those in the human services field as authority figures with the power to make decisions that affect their loved ones and their futures. A human services professional’s presentation—including dress, body language, and tone—can reinforce this perception. In this Assignment, you will analyze the need for sensitivity with regard to how you are perceived by your interviewee. You will also explore strategies that might help to reduce the perception of oppression by demonstrating your trustworthiness and building credibility with your interviewee.

To prepare for this Assignment:

· Review Chapter 3 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination. Consider the section titled “Exercise 1: The Initial Interview—the Applicant’s Perspective,” which focuses on the individuals’ perceptions of power roles and oppression.

· Review Chapter 5 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination, focusing on the section titled “Interviewing Skills.”

· Review the article, “A Framework for Thinking About Oppression and Its Change” in this week’s Learning Resources. Focus on the definition of oppression and how it might be manifest in human services interviews.

· Identify and consider strategies human services professionals employ when interviewing members of oppressed populations.

By Day 7

The Assignment:

Submit by Day 7 a 1- to 2-page paper that includes the following:

· An explanation of how you might be perceived as the oppressor to an interviewee. Explain two different ways in which this perception could occur.

· An explanation of the strategies you might use to prevent or reduce such perceptions

· At least one insight you had or conclusion you drew as a result of completing this Assignment.

Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Learning Resources for this course.