Practitioners’ perspectives of multicultural sensitivity

Abstract

In this exploratory qualitative study we explored issues related to cultural sensitivity among 10 British therapists working in multicultural settings. Our analysis, which combined content and statistical procedures, suggests that knowledge of the client’s core ethnic identity and the degree of adherence to religious or traditional values are the most prominent issues that practitioners take into consideration. Understanding the client’s kinship and migration history were also highlighted as important for a positive therapeutic outcome. Furthermore, therapists strongly indicated knowledge and thus cultural sensitivity is predominantly gained through direct contact with clients rather than gained through additional training and external advice. We used Multidimensional Scalogram Analysis (MSA), to obtain two dominant perspectives that we suggest guides multicultural counselling. One approach takes into account specific cultural information. A second acknowledges the significance of cultural and racial issues but gives preference to individual experiences of racism. Therapists’ socio-demographic variables or preferred theoretical perspective didn’t appear to affect the different models outlined. Implications of our findings are discussed.