Enhancing Reflective Practice in Multicultural Counseling Through Cultural Auditing

Counselors work in an increasingly complex cultural milieu where every encounter with a client must be considered multicultural in nature. Reflective practice is a central component of professional competence and necessarily involves attention to culture. The cultural auditing model provides an effective and flexible reflective process for enhancing multicultural counseling. The 13 steps in the model are detailed with probes and questions to guide counselor reflection. A case example illuminates the principles involved.     

Perceptions of Suicide Risk and the Helpfulness of Intervention Strategies: A Comparison of Students and Mothers

College students (n = 132) and mothers (n = 64) listened to simulated hotline calls and rated level of suicide risk and the helpfulness of interventions. Students also rated their intent to take action in a similar situation; mothers rated their child's intent to take action. Students, more than mothers, perceived emotional problems to be associated with risk; mothers, more than students, perceived changes in behavior to be associated with risk. Students and mothers generally agreed regarding the helpfulness of different interventions, rating talking as most helpful. However, students, more than mothers, perceived social distraction as helpful. Mothers were generally accurate in their perceptions of their children's intended actions. Results suggest the need for additional research on the skills adolescents bring to crisis situations.     

Social interaction and cognitive growth: Possible causal mechanisms

The causal role of social interaction in the promotion of cognitive development has recently emerged as an important issue in developmental psychology. Two dominant theoretical orientations are currently guiding the empirical studies. The Piagetian perspective has influenced studies conducted to measure operational advances in cognitive functioning as a result of conflict between children. Vygotsky's developmental framework has provoked interest in the ontogenesis of self-regulatory abilities in children through an analysis of social problem solving. Both seek to explain cognitive development through social processes. Theoretical and empirical links between the two approaches are explored, and the possible role of linguistic processes as causal mechanisms examined.     

The “Ought-Is” Problem: An Implementation Science Framework for Translating Ethical Norms Into Practice

Abstract

We argue that once a normative claim is developed, there is an imperative to effect changes based on this norm. As such, ethicists should adopt an “implementation mindset” when formulating norms, and collaborate with others who have the expertise needed to implement policies and practices. To guide this translation of norms into practice, we propose a framework that incorporates implementation science into ethics. Implementation science is a discipline dedicated to supporting the sustained enactment of interventions. We further argue that implementation principles should be integrated into the development of specific normative claims as well as the enactment of these norms. Ethicists formulating a specific norm should consider whether that norm can feasibly be enacted because the resultant specific norm will directly affect the types of interventions subsequently developed. To inform this argument, we will describe the fundamental principles of implementation science, using informed consent to research participation as an illustration.