The United States is one of the most culturally, ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse countries in the world, so it is essential that all service provider know a range of strategies in order to enhance their relationships with families from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It is helpful for those seeking to work as service providers to develop a common foundation of knowledge and practical strategies to address the needs of the families they serve, especially when the families' cultural background are different from their own. The textbook Knowing and Serving Diverse Families is designed for service providers who are providing early mediation services to families of diverse cultures. It includes ideas and suggestions for fostering cultural appreciation and sensitivity. The strength of the textbook is that it is easy to read and understand, and it offers realistic, common sense strategies to those of us seeking to get a better understanding about diversity. The material in the book encourages the reader to engage in self-reflection in regards to their role and how families might perceive it. It also racially breaks down ethnic diversity amongst American families. The purpose is so that we can work effectively with diverse, multi-need audiences, by knowing effective program planning for diverse people. The authors believe "that individuals are best served by professionals who understand the family, social milieu, and personal dynamics of their individual customer, patient or student" (Hildebrand et al. 5). Knowing and Serving Diverse Families has many strengths and serves as good basic information for those interested in working to help others. The textbook is organized into five sections... ... middle of paper ... ... and their early intervention programs can better serve families of diverse cultures. For those that learn better from real life senerios, the stories and information that are shared by service providers and families from various cultures, such as Hispanics, European Americans, African Americans and Native Americans can be very helpful. This section of personal stories from service providers and families serves as an great opportunity to read about the interactions between service workers with families of diverse cultures. I learn greatly from this textbook and I know that many others will as well. Works Cited Gruber, Patricia R. . We All Are Different. 2002. West Virginia University. 02 Nov. 2005 . Hildebrand, Verna, Lillian A. Phenice, Mary M. Gray, and Rebecca M. Hines. Knowing and Serving Diverse Families. 2nd ed. Columbus: Prentice Hall, 2000.
The first framework that would be beneficial when working with this population is the Dual Perspective Framework. The Dual Perspective Framework is a model that charges the social worker with assessing and understanding the client’s world. While doing so, one must take into account the client’s relationship to not only their immediate family and community, but also to the larger societal system while considering and comparing values, attitudes, and behaviors (Prigoff, 2003, p. 80). Another way to explain the Dual Perspective was presented by Dr. Nimmagadda as part of the diversity section of this course (2015). The contrasting views are also known as the “Nurturing Environment” versus the “Sustaining Environment.” The “Nurturing Environment” can be identified as the individual’s family or immediate extended family, while the “Sustaining Environment” can be identified as how an individual feels other’s view them in the social environment (Nimmagadda, 2015). An individual can evolve and change according to their experiences and interactions in both environments.
Padilla, A. M. "Bicultural Social Development." Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 28.4 (2006): 467-97. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. Sage Journals, 9 Oct. 2006. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Culture is “the total lifeways of a human group. It consists of learned patterns of values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors that are shared by a group of interacting individuals” (Stumbo & Peterson, 2009, p. 257). In order for a person to be culturally competence, he or she must be able to overlook stereotypes of different cultures and be able to appreciate the cultural differences. Dana suggested some culturally competent assessment, which must be considered when serving multicultural clients: cultural orientation, styles of service delivery, assessment methodology, assessment measures, and feedback of assessment findings (Stumbo & Peterson, 2009, p.
The family I chose to interview is a blended non-traditional family. There is a mother and her 6 kids. The kids come from two different guys that the gal was married to and a boyfriend that she has lived with in the past. The boyfriend still spends some nights with her.
The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse health conditions for each population and the types of socioeconomic factors that affect them. Culture helps shape an individual’s health related beliefs, values, and behaviors. It is more than ethnicity and race; culture involves economic, political, religious, psychological, and biological aspects (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). All of these conditions take on an emotional tone and moral meaning for participants (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). As a health professional, it is one’s duty to have adequate knowledge and awareness of various cultures to effectively promote health behavior change. Cultural and linguistic competencies through cultural humility are two important aspects of working in the field of public health. Cultural competency is having a sense of understanding and respect for different cultural groups, while linguistic competency is the complete awareness of the language barriers that impact the health of individuals. These concepts are used to then work effectively work with various pop...
The healthcare system within America reflects increasing numbers of cultural diversity and awareness. According to Holloway (2004), cultural awareness is defined as the deliberate, cognitive process by which health care providers become appreciative of and sensitive to the values, beliefs, practices, and problem solving strategies of the clients’ cultures. Cultural awareness include an examination of one’s personal biases. In order to understand cultural diversity, individuals must strive to acknowledge the prejudices they may already hold toward different cultures. On the other hand, cultural competence is a process through which health professionals can integrate their knowledge and skills to improve culturally effective interactions with clients (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
chapters focus on one principle of multi-culturalism. After the principles are discussed there are questions to answer regarding the principles and the research behind them. “Head Start programs are effective when their systems and services support the cultural diversity of enrolled families. Furthermore, individual staff members must be able to demonstrate their respect for and respond to the different cultures in their community and among their co-workers.” (Office of Head Start). Maloney of Shirley Mays Head Start stated that all the staff members are required to take the Multicultural Principles for Head Start Programs Serving Children Ages Birth to Five. When asked if there were ever issues from staff regarding the diverse groups they
It is important to include cultural issues in the helping process to be more effective. We also need cultural competence because the U.S. is becoming more diverse. Therefore with diversity comes different beliefs, norms, and values. Eurocentric values dominate sciences and began cultural universals which puts the clash of dominate and non-dominate cultural behaviors in motion. In 1996 the NASW Code of Ethics increased the recognition of cultural competence. It is important to know diversity exist within ethnic and cultural groups because social workers need to know that relationships between helping professionals and clients may be strained. This happens because of the distrust between groups. Another important aspect is that the professional realizes their own values, biases, and beliefs. The reason for this is because they must value diversity to start with and understand the dynamics of difference. Culturally competent practitioners have to go through developmental process of using their own culture as a starting point to meet all behaviors. Striving for cultural competence is a long term process of development. The literature on cultural competence is theoretical and conceptual. They have not been evaluated in a systematic way. Roughly there are 2 million Native americans in the U.S. Which survive decimating disease, over-repressed in child welfare system, suffer from health problems, and are among the poorest people in the United States. Working with them clearly falls within the social work clearly mandate to serve vulnerable and oppressed clients. However, we do not know how many people from this group is actually receiving help from social workers. Even though it is important to train social workers to provide care in th...
Sue, D.W., & Sue, D (2003). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice, 4th Ed.
As a working nurse on an acute behavioral health unit, emergency department, case management, cultural awareness is crucial when treating a diverse population of patients. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (OMH), cultural competence is, “is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and skills that enables nurses to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Garcia, 2007, p. 1). It is important for nurses to deliver culturally competent and appropriate care to patients due to the perpetually growing culture of diversity. My workplace is located in Orange, California. Demographically, the city is made up of 47 percent Caucasian, 38 percent Hispanic, 11 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 1 percent Black, and 3 percent other races. I am an American-Filipino, born and raised in California, and identify with the 11 percent Asian/Pacific Islander group. It is necessary that working nurses have cultural awareness and the skills necessary to service patients of any race or ethnicity. We can do this by educating ourselves and being mindful of all different cultures.
Cultural diversity has been a major issue of concern for several decades, and it has affected institutions of learning, where facilitators have to balance the family and school involvement in enhancing learning. Establishing a meaningful environment for students with diverse backgrounds enhances positive performance in their academic, personal, and professional objectives. A healthy relationship with family members involves identifying the needs of each family’s cultural stand; this is because a culture may play a major role in defining a family’s responsiveness to a school’s involvement. The globalization aspect has facilitated the creation of a multicultural society, and hence the need for an education system that addresses the need to foster a conducive environment for learning. It is imperative to define the essence of family involvement and collaboration in schools’ activities, especially where cultural diversity is concerned.
Sue, Derald Wing; Sue, David (2012-07-10). Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice (Wiley Desktop Editions). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
Hastings, C. (2002). So, how do you become culturally competent? Family Therapy Magazine, 1(2), 18-24.
“Culture refers to the organized pattern of values, beliefs, and behaviors developed and transmitted over time by a cultural group” (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2012). I talked about the different aspects of how I define my culture. A social worker working with my family would be the most effective if he or she takes my family beliefs and values into consideration. The case that I choose based on familiarity was the Jones Family. Despite some differences, I connected more with this family when talking about my family’s culture. To help the Jones family in their situation, I would focus on the strength and empowerment perspective. Cultural can easily be defined in many ways, but it is up to a family to choose what is include when discussing culture.
In society today, we are working with families and children are more diverse than ever. We are servicing families and children from so many different traditions, beliefs and values. Every family has their own stories. We will find that families and children