Analyzing the Role of Implicit Bias From a DisCrit Perspective

Using a disability studies/critical race theory (Discrit) lens, the authors reviewed and analyzed specific literature within the pyramid model (PM) framework—a three-tier hierarchical framework for promoting social-emotional competence and reducing challenging behavior among young children—to understand the model's framing of implicit bias and the specific strategies noted in the literature that help teachers to recognize and counteract implicit bias and subsequently reduce disciplinary inequities among Black preschool children. Findings revealed that although the PM literature discussed, defined, and emphasized the importance of cultural responsivity, it did not engage critically with the construct of implicit bias (i.e., racism and ableism), specifically as it relates to the experiences of children most vulnerable to disciplinary sanction. This chapter ends with suggestions to help readers rethink the PM framework as a way to shift practice toward more equitable experiences for Black children in their earliest years of schooling.

He Waka Eke Noa at Korowai Manaaki: A Process Evaluation of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-informed skills programme for young people in a secure youth justice residence

<p>Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) aims to help people live a life worth living. It has increasingly been developed and adapted to address a range of mental health symptoms across different ages, cognitive abilities and environmental contexts; however, its popularity in implementation has outpaced empirical research. The current study was a Process Evaluation which assessed professionals’ perspectives about a DBT-informed skills group called He Waka Eke Noa operating at Korowai Manaaki – a youth justice secure residence in New Zealand (NZ). The study involved 11 interviews with professionals across two organisations involved in facilitating He Waka Eke Noa and/or supporting the young people who participated. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews and three overarching themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Factors influencing practical effectiveness’, explored areas which professionals highlighted as having a significant impact on how He Waka Eke Noa worked and had three subthemes: ‘Generalisability’, ‘Cultural Responsivity’, and ‘Criminal Justice Environment’. The second theme, ‘Theoretical application of DBT to young people in NZ’ investigated the compatibility of DBT with young people in secure youth justice residences in NZ. The final theme, ‘Motivation’, considered the role that motivation played in engagement and continuation of treatment for people involved in He Waka Eke Noa. The findings from this study shed light on how the group was operating and highlighted the importance of the relationship between facilitators and young people. It identified the challenges He Waka Eke Noa faced including the difficulty of balancing a risk-reduction approach with creating a therapeutic environment. Further developments are considered that would assist He Waka Eke Noa in maximising its effectiveness through increasing resources and ensuring diversity amongst the clinicians (e.g., increasing cultural diversity). The thesis concludes with recommendations for the future direction of operation, for example, rolling out DBT-informed skills groups in other residences and the community; and potential research avenues.</p>

He Waka Eke Noa at Korowai Manaaki: A Process Evaluation of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy-informed skills programme for young people in a secure youth justice residence

<p>Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) aims to help people live a life worth living. It has increasingly been developed and adapted to address a range of mental health symptoms across different ages, cognitive abilities and environmental contexts; however, its popularity in implementation has outpaced empirical research. The current study was a Process Evaluation which assessed professionals’ perspectives about a DBT-informed skills group called He Waka Eke Noa operating at Korowai Manaaki – a youth justice secure residence in New Zealand (NZ). The study involved 11 interviews with professionals across two organisations involved in facilitating He Waka Eke Noa and/or supporting the young people who participated. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interviews and three overarching themes were identified. The first theme, ‘Factors influencing practical effectiveness’, explored areas which professionals highlighted as having a significant impact on how He Waka Eke Noa worked and had three subthemes: ‘Generalisability’, ‘Cultural Responsivity’, and ‘Criminal Justice Environment’. The second theme, ‘Theoretical application of DBT to young people in NZ’ investigated the compatibility of DBT with young people in secure youth justice residences in NZ. The final theme, ‘Motivation’, considered the role that motivation played in engagement and continuation of treatment for people involved in He Waka Eke Noa. The findings from this study shed light on how the group was operating and highlighted the importance of the relationship between facilitators and young people. It identified the challenges He Waka Eke Noa faced including the difficulty of balancing a risk-reduction approach with creating a therapeutic environment. Further developments are considered that would assist He Waka Eke Noa in maximising its effectiveness through increasing resources and ensuring diversity amongst the clinicians (e.g., increasing cultural diversity). The thesis concludes with recommendations for the future direction of operation, for example, rolling out DBT-informed skills groups in other residences and the community; and potential research avenues.</p>

Assessing Outcomes

This chapter explores the possible outcomes of completing the activities in this book and revisits some of the questions raised in Chapter 2 about how to change attitudes and behaviors toward people with disabilities. Despite a desired goal of affecting implicit bias, that outcome is not guaranteed. Ultimately, the goal is to increase cultural responsivity and skill levels for therapists working with their clients with disabilities. Various measures of attitudes toward disability are reviewed (and references provided) and a link to the Harvard measure of implicit bias is included. Six ways of assessing the outcomes of doing the activities are included: the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, able-bodied privilege, and four created by the author.

Book Review of Embracing Cultural Responsivity and Social Justice: Re-shaping Professional Identity in Counselling Psychology

Sandra Collins’s e-book Embracing Cultural Responsivity and Social Justice: Re-Shaping Professional Identity in Counselling Psychology integrates a well-grounded conceptual model for attending to culture and social justice in counselling with applied examples that bridge theory and practice. The book is interconnected between domains, competencies, learning outcomes, and key concepts in the culturally responsive and socially just (CRSJ) counselling model, which enhances meaningfulness, relevancy, and ease of application for readers. The interactive features of the e-book design include (a) audio and video components that bring the contents to life, (b) internal links that support easy navigation between various sections of the book, and (c) links between the concepts in each chapter and detailed glossary definitions that ground the ideas in the professional literature. This e-book is unique in its multimodality and is user friendly with language that is both professional and personal.

Socially Just and Culturally Responsive Leadership Within Counseling and Counseling Psychology: A Grounded Theory Investigation

The purpose of this study was to develop an abstracted theory concerning how counseling and counseling psychology leaders and educators engage in and enact socially just and culturally responsive leadership in professional association and higher education contexts. This grounded theory study included 18 participants with a range of social locations and professional leadership experiences in counseling and counseling psychology associations and higher education. Findings from this study were analyzed and are presented using the Straussian tradition of grounded theory. We discuss implications for counseling leadership, training, and development; social justice, cultural responsivity, and advocacy; and future research.

Trust, culture and communication: determinants of eye health and care among Indigenous people with diabetes in Australia

IntroductionOur study aimed to identify factors that influence access to eye care and eye health outcomes for remote Indigenous Australians living with diabetes.MethodsIn collaboration with Indigenous Community-Based Researchers (CBR) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS), a qualitative, participatory action research approach was taken, drawing on Indigenist and decolonising methodologies. The study was undertaken in four remote communities, in the Katherine region, Northern Territory and north-western New South Wales, Australia. Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with Indigenous adults aged ≥40 years living with diabetes (n=110), and primary care clinicians working in ACCHSs (n=37). A series of interviews with CBRs (n=13) were undertaken before and after data collection to add cultural insights and validation to participant accounts. Data were analysed inductively using grounded theory, in-depth discussion and NVivo V.11.ResultsMore than one-third of all patients had little to no knowledge of how diabetes affects eye health. Limited access to health information and interpreters, language barriers, distrust of health providers and services, and limited cultural responsivity among non-Indigenous clinicians, were identified as determining factors in eye health and care.DiscussionWe outline a need to address gaps in trust and communication, through increased access to and resourcing of Indigenous language interpreters and cultural brokers, understandable and culturally sensitive diabetic eye health information and cultural responsivity training for non-Indigenous clinicians. Centring Indigenous cultures in healthcare practice will enable a shared understanding between clinicians and Indigenous patients, and subsequently more equitable eye health outcomes.

The Strengths-Based Inclusive Theory of Work

This paper describes a new vocational theory—the strengths-based inclusive theory of work (S-BIT of Work). This theory addresses the ever-changing, dynamic nature of the world of work and integrates counseling psychology’s core values of emphasizing vocational psychology, strengths-based perspectives, multiculturalism, and social justice. We aim to provide a holistic vocational theory to inform career and work counseling practice by increasing clinicians’ cultural responsivity, promoting clients’ strengths and optimal functioning, and addressing a variety of vocational challenges across developmental stages. This first article in the Major Contribution includes a discussion of the S-BIT of Work’s core assumptions and theoretical propositions, research supporting the development of the S-BIT of Work, as well as future directions. The second and third articles in this Major Contribution discuss a model of fulfulling work, and the infusion of positive psychology and cultural responsivity in work counseling practice, respectively.