Multicultural Assessment Research Articles

“Y Todavía, We Are Still Being Tested”: Educational Testimonios and Counter-Storytelling of Two Bilingual Pre-Service Teachers in a Multicultural Education Course

This article utilizes the testimonios of two bilingual pre-service teachers to discuss their experiences with educational assessments in a multicultural assessment course. Utilizing educational testimonios and counter-storytelling methodology, I share the personal accounts of my participants’ P-16 experiences, discuss how they navigated barriers related to testing and assessment, and describe how these experiences impacted their educational trajectories. I explore how testimono methodology can provide a necessary tool for constructing counter-stories for pre-service teacher educators within their teacher preparation programs. My findings demonstrate how, through critical reflection, pre-service teachers are able to draw and heal from their own experiences with assessments and how this process has better prepared them to enter the field as future bilingual educators.

Then is now: The necessity of exploring cultural context and intergenerational cultural trauma in dramatherapeutic training

Cultural trauma is passed down through generations, influencing interpersonal relations. Avoidance or denial of intergenerational cultural trauma’s (ICT) cumulative effects can impede dramatherapists’ ability to analyse countertransference and develop cultural empathy. Lack of exploration of how personal cultural context intersects with that of clients can hinder self-knowledge and recognition of similarities, differences and tensions within the therapeutic relationship. This article details my retrospective identification of ICT’s influence while working with a refugee and asylum seeker drama group prior to my dramatherapeutic training. I analyse how limited knowledge of ICT hindered productive exploration of the participants’ racialised perspectives. Contrastingly, Thorn’s 2011 case study exemplifies how ICT engagement can increase a dramatherapist’s self-knowledge and understanding of client experiences and perspectives. This article explores how discomfort elicited by racial and ethnic focus can lead to avoidance, diminishing the dramatherapist’s ability to understand clients’ lived experience. It also pinpoints colour-blind racial ideology’s negative impact, alongside the limitations of intellectual understanding alone when engaging with cultural realities. Consequently, this article promotes experiential exploration of cultural context in dramatherapy training. It supports incorporation of Powell’s Embodied Multicultural Assessment model, with additional ICT focus, as this could prove invaluable to trainees’ professional development.

A-271 Assessment of Autistic Filipino-Americans using the ECLECTIC Model

Abstract Objective: Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulties with social communication and restricted/repetitive behaviors. It is reported to occur in all racial and ethnic groups; however, literature on assessing autistic Filipino-Americans is scarce. Therefore, multicultural assessment guidelines are imperative in the diagnostic process as there are specific cultural factors that should be considered such as perception on disabilities, cultural values, acculturation level, etc. We discuss the use of the ECLECTIC model in assessing a US-born Filipino-American child of immigrant parents. Methods: In addition to commonly used assessment battery, the following theoretical constructs were implemented to asses this case: Education, Culture and Acculturation, Language and Language Proficiency, Economics, Communication, Testing Situation, Intelligence Concept, and Context of Immigration. For instance, the family’s cultural and educational backgrounds were taken into consideration. Additionally, the patient’s “fluency in Japanese,” which caregivers’ thought was evidence of multilingual skills, was in fact stereotyped speech. Results: The evaluation revealed significant weakness in reasoning, academic skills, and adaptive skills. All autism-related measures indicated autism. Further, results revealed that his expressive communication was limited. Of note, what the family thought was functional communication in another language was actually delayed echolalia from videos. Conclusions: Cultural factors significantly affected this family’s perception of the patient’s behaviors and social interactions. Using a cultural lens is essential in autism assessments because of the strong relationship between social cognition/behaviors and culture. Additionally, assessment will enhance clinical formulation and help identify potential biases that may interfere with appropriate autism diagnosis and effective recommendations, particularly in the Filipino-American community.

Does African American Women's Racial Identity Mediate Gendered Racism on Anticipated Relationship Threat?

The present study examined the question of whether racial identity among African American women mediated the relationship between gendered racism and anticipated relationship threat. Using the Multicultural Assessment Intervention Process (MAIP) framework, we examined the relationship of gendered racism, racial identity, and anticipated relationship threat among a convenience sample of 411 African American women. A structural model was configured with gendered racism directly predicting anticipated relationship threat and racial identity serving as a mediator. Results indicated that greater levels of perceived gendered racism were associated with greater perceptions of anticipated relationship threat. Racial identity was found to not mediate the association with anticipated relationship threat. Individuals with less education experienced higher levels of concern regarding physical safety and controlling behaviors than those with more education. Implications for future relationship threat research with African American women are discussed.

Addressing Linguistic and Cultural Differences in the Forensic Interview

Given the increased cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic diversity of individuals undergoing legal proceedings, forensic mental health professionals around the world are often tasked with evaluating defendants who are drastically different from themselves. There appears to be a clear consensus that cultural competency should be a key component of both the training and practice of forensic mental health. However, despite the growing literature on multicultural assessment in clinical settings, there is little guidance on how to apply cultural competency principles to the area of forensic mental health assessment. This article reviews some of the challenges that arise during the forensic mental health interview with culturally diverse individuals. In addition, practice recommendations to mitigate some of these challenges are provided. Identified challenges and recommendations are organized around three stages: preparation for the interview (e.g., what type of knowledge about the defendant’s culture is needed beforehand, how to attain that knowledge, or whether and how to use translators), the initiation of the forensic interview (e.g., the effect of culture in the informed consent process), and the interviewing process itself (e.g., cultural challenges to developing rapport, and identification of mental status assessment domains that may be vulnerable to cultural influences).

Does context matter? An analysis of training in multicultural assessment, consultation, and intervention between school psychologists in urban and rural contexts

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to analyze the extent of training in multicultural assessment, intervention, and consultation of school psychologists in urban and rural contexts. Although there is greater cultural and sociodemographic diversity in urban settings as compared to rural settings, it is unknown whether school psychologists in urban settings have more training than school psychologists in rural contexts to assess, consult, or intervene in these multicultural settings. For this reason, 86 school psychologists in rural and urban contexts were surveyed about their training in multicultural assessment, consultation, and intervention. Results indicated that, overall, the school psychologists had little to no training in multicultural assessment, intervention, and consultation. However, school psychologists in urban context did indicate significantly higher level of training in multicultural intervention. Implications for multicultural training are discussed.

Spiritual Needs and Perception of Quality of Care and Satisfaction With Care in Hematology/Medical Oncology Patients: A Multicultural Assessment

ContextAssessment and response to patients' spiritual concerns are crucial components of high-quality supportive care. Better measures of spiritual needs across the cultural spectrum may help direct necessary interventions. ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to assess spiritual needs in a racially/ethnically and religiously mixed sample of hematology and oncology outpatients and examine the association between spiritual needs and perception of quality of care and satisfaction with care. MethodsThis is an observational study of 727 racially/ethnically and religiously diverse outpatients. Spiritual needs were measured using a validated, 23-item questionnaire, the Spiritual Needs Assessment for Patients. Scales were administered in four languages. ResultsForty-four percent were white, 13% Hispanic, 25% black, and 14% Asian. English was the primary language for 57%; 59% considered themselves “spiritual but not religious.” At least one spiritual need was reported by 79%. Forty-eight percent were comfortable having their physician inquire about spiritual needs. Compared with English-speaking patients, Russian-speaking patients reported lower spiritual needs (P = 0.003). Patients who considered themselves “spiritual but not religious” (P = 0.006) reported a higher level of spiritual needs. Higher spiritual needs were associated with less satisfaction with care (P = 0.018) and lower perception of quality of care (P = 0.002). ConclusionSpiritual needs are common in an ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse cancer patient population but may differ by cultural background. High levels of spiritual need are associated with lower levels of satisfaction and diminished perception of quality of care. Training clinicians to address patients' spiritual concerns, with attention to cultural differences, may improve patients' experiences of care.

Examining Knowledge, Awareness and Action Orientation Through Multicultural Assessment Proficiency (MAP) for Cultural Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Education Practices

Examining Knowledge, Awareness and Action Orientation Through Multicultural Assessment Proficiency (MAP) for Cultural Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Education Practices

A mixed-method study of psychologists’ use of multicultural assessment.

A mixed-method study of psychologists’ use of multicultural assessment.

Embodied multicultural assessment: An interdisciplinary training model

Abstract Cross-cultural counselling is imperative in the training of any therapist, yet there are no educational models based on drama therapy techniques. The author explores the need for an embodied multicultural self-assessment for drama therapy students and presents an approach that incorporates Robert Landy’s role theory and Pamela A. Hays’ ADDRESSING framework.

Embracing the Multilingual and Multicultural Assessment Context of Canada

Embracing the Multilingual and Multicultural Assessment Context of Canada

Reconsidering Focus Groups and Rasch Model Item Response Theory in Instrument Development

In this rejoinder, we focus on five important themes derived from the valuable comments of Harvey; Wang, Hogge, and Sahai; and Whittaker and Worthington. Specifically, we reflect on (a) methodological and conceptual issues associated with the use of focus groups in developing an initial item pool, (b) the debate about the use of Rasch versus other item response theory (IRT) models, (c) response scale functioning and the use of item parcels, (d) bandwidth and scale sensitivity, and (e) multicultural considerations. We reconsider the strengths and limitations of the approaches that we have endorsed in light of the comments of our colleagues. We conclude with the hope that dialogue on the use of focus groups and IRT in measurement development and on multicultural assessment continues.

Patient responses to research recruitment and follow-up surveys: findings from a diverse multicultural health care setting in Qatar.

BackgroundHealth care researchers working in the Arabian Gulf need information on how to optimize recruitment and retention of study participants in extremely culturally diverse settings. Implemented in Doha, Qatar in 2012 with 4 language groups, namely Arabic, English, Hindi, and Urdu, this research documents persons’ responses to recruitment, consent, follow-up, and reminder procedures during psychometric testing of the Multicultural Assessment Instrument (MAI), a novel self- or interviewer-administered survey.MethodsBilingual research assistants recruited adults in outpatient clinics by approaching persons in particular who appeared to be from a target language group. Participants completed the MAI, a second acculturation instrument used for content-validity assessment, and a demographics questionnaire. Participants were asked to take the MAI again in 2–3 weeks, in person or by post, to assess test-retest reliability. Recruitment data were analyzed by using nonparametric statistics.ResultsOf 1503 persons approached during recruitment, 400 enrolled (27 %)—100 per language group. The enrollment rates in the language groups were: Arabic-32 %; English-33 %; Hindi-18 %; Urdu-30 %. The groups varied somewhat in their preferences regarding consent procedure, follow-up survey administration, contact mode for follow-up reminders, and disclosure of personal mailing address (for postal follow-up). Over all, telephone was the preferred medium for follow-up reminders. Of 64 persons who accepted a research assistant’s invitation for in-person follow-up, 40 participants completed the interview (follow-up rate, 63 %); among 126 persons in the postal group with a deliverable address, 29 participants mailed back a completed follow-up survey (response rate, 23 %).ConclusionsResearchers in the Arabian Gulf face challenges to successfully identify, enroll, and retain eligible study participants. Although bilingual assistants—often from the persons’ own culture—recruited face-to-face, and our questionnaire contained no health care-related content, many persons were reluctant to participate. This occurrence was observed especially at follow-up, particularly among participants who had agreed to follow-up by post.

Dynamic testing: Assessing cognitive potential of children with culturally diverse backgrounds

Dynamic testing may be useful in assessing cognitive potential in disadvantaged populations such as ethnic minorities. Majority and minority culture children's performance on a dynamic test of figural matrices was examined using a pretest–training–posttest design. Dynamically tested children were compared to practice- and attention-control groups at three inner-city schools (N=111). School performance and teacher ratings of learning-ability were lower for ethnic minority children. Ethnicity was related to pretest performance, but not change from pretest to posttest for the dynamic testing condition. Instructional-needs were similar for both culture groups, and related to pretest performance, performance change and teacher ratings. AnimaLogica appears to provide similar indices of cognitive potential for both indigenous and ethnic minority children and these indices do not appear attributable to individual differences in working memory. Generally the focus in multicultural assessment lies in limiting cultural bias within the test and norms; however, dynamic administration of cognitive assessments may be an additional, practical method to help educators ascertain children's cognitive potential in culturally diverse schools.

Cognitive Testing in Multicultural Assessment

Cognitive Testing in Multicultural Assessment

Multicultural experience: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale

We introduce the Multicultural Experience Assessment (MExA) scale that distinguishes multicultural exposures and multicultural interactions, which are measured based on frequency, duration, and bre...

Richard Henry Dana (1927-2015).

Richard Henry Dana was born on June 14, 1927, in Bronxville, New York. Dick was accepted to Princeton University in 1944 on a scholarship and graduated in 1949. He then became a student leader in the Congress of Racial Equality and participated in a series of nonviolent sit-in protests. He completed studies for his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois in clinical psychology (1953). He briefly held a series of clinical and university positions until finally settling down at the University of Arkansas (1969- 1988). It was during his long tenure in Arkansas that Dick authored one of the foundational textbooks in clinical psychology. His groundbreaking work, Multicultural Assessment Perspectives for Professional Psychology (1993), provided the first comprehensive book on the topic. Over a remarkable 10-year period, he produced a flurry of scholarly and professional activity. He passed away peacefully at his home in Portland, Oregon, on August 17, 2015.

Training School Psychologists to Identify Specific Learning Disabilities: A Content Analysis of Syllabi

.Approximately 2.4 million children receive special education services for specific learning disabilities (SLDs), and school psychologists are key contributors to the SLD eligibility decision-making process. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) enabled local education agencies to use response to intervention (RTI) instead of the prevailing ability–achievement (Ab-Ach) discrepancy method for SLD decision making. In this study we examined the degree to which school psychology graduate programs train different methods of SLD decision making by analyzing syllabi (n = 123) from courses in school psychology graduate programs (n = 78). Syllabi were coded by (a) Ab-Ach discrepancy training, (b) RTI training, (c) special education (e.g., law or the referral process), (d) communicating assessment results, (e) ethics, and (f) multicultural assessment considerations. Variations existed between training programs, across courses within training programs, and across regions of the country. Implications for training are discussed and address areas for future training and research.

Promoting Cultural Awareness: A Faculty Development Workshop on Cultural Competency.

An interdisciplinary faculty development workshop on cultural competency (CC) was implemented and evaluated for the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. It consisted of a 4-hour workshop and 2 follow-up sessions. A reflective practice framework was used. The project was evaluated using the Multicultural Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ), evaluation forms completed by participants, and detailed field notes taken during the sessions. The workshop was attended by 49 faculty members with diverse professional backgrounds. Statistically significant improvements were measured using the MAQ. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 = very useful) on the evaluation form, the majority of participants (76.1%) gave the workshop a score of 4 or 5 for overall usefulness. A thematic analysis of field-note data highlighted participant responses to specific activities in the workshop. Participants expressed a need for faculty development initiatives on CC such as this one.

Trends in the neuropsychological assessment of ethnic/racial minorities: a survey of clinical neuropsychologists in the United States and Canada.

Despite the importance of diversity variables to the clinical practice of neuropsychology, little is known about neuropsychologists' multicultural assessment practices and perspectives. The current study was the first to survey issues related to neuropsychologists' assessment of minority populations, proficiency in languages other than English, approaches to interpreting the cognitive scores of minorities, and perceived challenges associated with assessing ethnic/racial minority patients. We also surveyed respondents with regard to their own demographic backgrounds, as neuropsychologists who identify as ethnic/racial minorities are reportedly underrepresented in the field. Respondents were 512 (26% usable response rate; 54% female) doctorate-level psychologists affiliated with the International Neuropsychology Society or the National Academy of Neuropsychology who resided in the United States or Canada. Overall, results suggest that lack of appropriate norms, tests, and referral sources are perceived as the greatest challenges associated with assessment of ethnic/racial minorities, that multicultural training is not occurring for some practitioners, and that some are conducting assessments in foreign languages despite limited proficiency. In addition, ethnic/racial minorities appear to be grossly underrepresented in the field of neuropsychology. Findings are discussed in relation to the need for appropriate education and training of neuropsychologists in multicultural issues and the provision of more valid assessments for ethnic/racial minority individuals.