Multicultural Guidelines - American Psychological …

Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality, 2017

Prepared by the Task Force on Re-envisioning the Multicultural Guidelines for the 21st Century

Adopted by the APA Council of Representatives in August 2017 Suggested Citation: American Psychological Association. 2017. Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality. Retrieved from:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ............................................................................... 3 Overall List of Multicultural Guidelines ................................................... 4

I. Introduction ....................................................................... 6 II. Need: Scope of Work ........................................................... 7 III. Purpose ............................................................................ 7 IV. Layered Ecological Model of the

Multicultural Guidelines .................................................... 10 V. Documentation of Need/Distinction

between Standards and Guidelines .......................................... 13 References .................................................................................... 98 Appendix A: Definitions .................................................................. 165 Appendix B: Case Studies That Illustrate the Layered Ecological Model of the Multicultural Guidelines ................................................................... 170

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Acknowledgements

Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality, 2017 is an update of the 2002 Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (Multicultural Guidelines).

The 2017 Guidelines were developed by a five-member Task Force on Re-envisioning the Multicultural Guidelines for the 21st Century, appointed by the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), and adopted by the Council of Representatives in August 2017.

Members of the Task Force included: Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Chair); David A. Chiriboga, University of South Florida; Scott J. Hunter, University of Chicago; Gargi Roysircar-Sodowsky, Antioch University New England; and Pratyusha Tummala-Narra, Boston College.

The Task Force gratefully acknowledges the earlier pioneering work of multiple individuals, whose steadfast commitment over several years and extensive knowledge of history and subject matter made this work possible. BAPPI liaisons April Harris-Britt and Gayle Skawennio Morse provided vital guidance and invaluable collaboration. Sincere appreciation is extended to Renato Alarc?n, William D. Parham, and Terrence Roberts for their willingness to contribute their invaluable knowledge, encouragement, and assistance. Roy Sainsbury, Sally Pulleyn, and the Social Research Policy Unit at the University of York are acknowledged for the support provided during a sabbatical leave.

The Task Force appreciates BAPPI's consistent support, extensive reviews, and substantive feedback. Task Force members also express their appreciation to the individuals and groups who provided insightful feedback during the public review process.

Appreciation is extended to Clinton W. Anderson, Interim Executive Director of the APA Public Interest Directorate, for his support in bringing this document to fruition, and to Sue Houston, who was responsible for assisting the Task Force in its work and who played an instrumental role in shepherding the document through the final approval process. The Task Force is also grateful for the contributions of students Cara Lomaro and No?l Su.

This document will expire as APA policy in 10 years (2027). Correspondence regarding the 2017 Multicultural Guidelines should be addressed to the American Psychological Association, Public Interest Directorate, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, 20002-4242

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Overall List of Multicultural Guidelines

Guideline 1. Psychologists seek to recognize and understand that identity and self-definition are fluid and complex and that the interaction between the two is dynamic. To this end, psychologists appreciate that intersectionality is shaped by the multiplicity of the individual's social contexts.

Guideline 2. Psychologists aspire to recognize and understand that as cultural beings, they hold attitudes and beliefs that can influence their perceptions of and interactions with others as well as their clinical and empirical conceptualizations. As such, psychologists strive to move beyond conceptualizations rooted in categorical assumptions, biases, and/or formulations based on limited knowledge about individuals and communities.

Guideline 3. Psychologists strive to recognize and understand the role of language and communication through engagement that is sensitive to the lived experience of the individual, couple, family, group, community, and/or organizations with whom they interact. Psychologists also seek to understand how they bring their own language and communication to these interactions.

Guideline 4. Psychologists endeavor to be aware of the role of the social and physical environment in the lives of clients, students, research participants, and/or consultees.

Guideline 5. Psychologists aspire to recognize and understand historical and contemporary experiences with power, privilege, and oppression. As such, they seek to address institutional barriers and related inequities, disproportionalities, and disparities of law enforcement, administration of criminal justice, educational, mental health, and other systems as they seek to promote justice, human rights, and access to quality and equitable mental and behavioral health services.

Guideline 6. Psychologists seek to promote culturally adaptive interventions and advocacy within and across systems, including prevention, early intervention, and recovery.

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Guideline 7. Psychologists endeavor to examine the profession's assumptions and practices within an international context, whether domestically or internationally based, and consider how this globalization has an impact on the psychologist's self-definition, purpose, role, and function. Guideline 8. Psychologists seek awareness and understanding of how developmental stages and life transitions intersect with the larger biosociocultural context, how identity evolves as a function of such intersections, and how these different socialization and maturation experiences influence worldview and identity. Guideline 9. Psychologists strive to conduct culturally appropriate and informed research, teaching, supervision, consultation, assessment, interpretation, diagnosis, dissemination, and evaluation of efficacy as they address the first four levels of the Layered Ecological Model of the Multicultural Guidelines. Guideline 10. Psychologists actively strive to take a strength-based approach when working with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations that seeks to build resilience and decrease trauma within the sociocultural context.

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I. Introduction Since the initial version of the Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training,

Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2002) was released, there has been significant growth in research and theory regarding multicultural contexts. The guidelines were passed by the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives at the 2002 annual conference and were posted on the APA website. The attention given to these guidelines, including their publication in the American Psychologist (2003), speaks to the profession's recognition of the important role that diversity and multiculturalism play, both in terms of how individuals and groups define themselves, and how they approach others within the United States (U.S.) and globally (APA, 2002).

The current Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality, 2017 (i.e., Multicultural Guidelines) are conceptualized from a need to reconsider diversity and multicultural practice within professional psychology at a different period in time, with intersectionality as its primary purview. The 2017 version of the Multicultural Guidelines encourages psychologists to consider how knowledge and understanding of identity develops from and is disseminated within professional psychological practice. Endemic to this understanding is an approach that incorporates developmental and contextual antecedents of identity and how they can be acknowledged, addressed, and embraced to engender more effective models of professional engagement. The Multicultural Guidelines incorporate broad reference group identities (e.g., Black/African American/Black American, White/White American, and Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander) to acknowledge withingroup differences and the role of self-definition in identity.

With the Multicultural Guidelines, APA and its members are presented with an opportunity to participate directly, as professional psychologists, in engaging a fuller understanding of diversity and its considerations within practice, research, consultation, and education (including supervision) to directly address how development unfolds across time and intersectional experiences and identities; and to recognize the highly diverse nature of individuals and communities in their defining characteristics, despite also sharing many similarities by virtue of being human. Our conscious awareness of what it means to think, feel, regulate, behave, and create meaning has been enhanced by advances in research and clinical

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scholarship affording us a contemporary consideration of psychology that incorporates human differences across their varied elements.

II. Need: Scope of Work The Multicultural Guidelines developed out of the need to update the guidelines

published in 2003 (APA, 2003). Per APA recommendations, approved Multicultural Guidelines are to be updated every 10 years, to remain current with scientific evidence and models of professional practice. In August 2015, APA developed two task forces: the Task Force on Reenvisioning the Multicultural Guidelines for the 21st Century and the Task Force on Guidelines Focused on Race/Ethnicity. The guidelines written by each Task Force group are considered partner documents. The stated reason for the appointment of two groups by the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) was that:

In the intervening years, there has been enormous domestic and global change affecting the lives of individuals, communities, countries and society at large, as well as the development of substantial new multicultural conceptual and empirical scholarship. BAPPI has determined that the wealth of scholarship specific to race/ethnicity as well as the scholarship focused on other identity groups warrants splitting the 2002 Multicultural Guidelines into two sets of guidelines going forward: one focused on "pan" or "umbrella" multicultural guidelines that captures universal concepts based on the scholarly literature across a broad cross-section of identity groups (e.g., age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation and gender diversity, social class, language, immigration status), and the other focused specifically on the race/ethnicityrelated scholarly developments since the 2002 Multicultural Guidelines were adopted (APA, 2015a).

III. Purpose The purpose of the Multicultural Guidelines is to provide psychologists with a framework

from which to consider evolving parameters for the provision of multiculturally competent services. Services include practice, research, consultation, and education, all of which benefit from an appreciation for, understanding of, and willingness to learn about the multicultural

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backgrounds of individuals, families, couples, groups, research participants, organizations, and communities. To simplify the presentations that follow, the Multicultural Guidelines often refer to the client when in fact speaking not only of the recipient of clinical services, but also the student, research participant, or consultee. With the exception of the case studies presented in Appendix B, the guidelines use nonbinary pronouns. The current Multicultural Guidelines also advocate for a more diverse and inclusive population of psychologists.

This version of the Multicultural Guidelines marks a significant extension from the initial Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (APA, 2002). The latter focused on race and ethnicity as the salient variables in multicultural practice. The 2002 version states: ". . . in these Guidelines, we will use the term multicultural rather narrowly, to connote interactions between racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. and the implications for education, training, research, practice, and organizational change" (p. 10). The goal of this new version is to regard the term multicultural more fully--to consider it in its broadest conceptualization. The broadening of our understanding within the Multicultural Guidelines reflects current trends in the literature that consider contextual factors and intersectionality among and between reference group identities, including culture, language, gender, race, ethnicity, ability status, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, socioeconomic status, religion, spirituality, immigration status, education, and employment, among other variables (APA, 2002).

These variables are considered within the context of domestic and international climates as well as human rights. It is important to note that, for the purposes of the Multicultural Guidelines, cultural competence does not refer to a process that ends simply because the psychologist is deemed competent. Rather, cultural competence incorporates the role of cultural humility whereby cultural competence is considered a lifelong process of reflection and commitment (Hook & Watkins, 2015; Waters & Asbill, 2013). This current iteration of the Multicultural Guidelines also recognizes the contributions of other culturally competent models of practice such as the American Counseling Association's (ACA) Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies: Guidelines for the Counseling Profession (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2016); the American Psychiatric Association's Cultural Formulation Interview (American Psychiatric Association, 2013); and the Standards

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