Intergroup relations in action: Questions asked about lesbian,gay and bisexual issues in diversity training

This paper focuses on the questions which heterosexual trainees ask about lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experience within diversity training about LGB issues. Drawing on a data corpus of 162 questions asked by trainees in 13 tape‐recorded training sessions, questions were coded into six categories: (1) general ‘understanding’ questions; (2) questions about the trainer's life, experience and practices; (3) professional practice questions; (4) questions about lesbian and gay related legislation, policies and procedures; (5) questions about specific people and projects and (6) questions about the meanings, derivations and correct use of terms and symbols. ‘Real’ questions are compared with the decontexualized questions (and answers to them) that are provided in training manuals and it is demonstrated that these questions differ markedly from how questions actually get asked and how they actually get answered. Recommendations are provided for improving training and the argument made for turning towards analyses of the real world in action, especially when considering intergroup relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of trauma and the refugee experience on psychological assessment processes and interpretation

All psychological assessments occur in a cultural context, whoever the participants. When the participant being assessed is someone of refugee background, several contextual domains, both current and historical, require close attention. Those domains are the effects of torture, violence and traumatic loss; pre‐arrival hardships such as poor nutrition, inadequate shelter, lack of access to health services and disruptions to schooling; settlement stresses involving unfamiliarity with Australian systems and discrimination; and family functioning and fractures to family nurturance, maintained by ongoing separation from and dangers to significant others left behind. Given that the purpose of psychological assessment is to formulate appropriate interventions for promoting mental health, learning and wellbeing for individuals presenting with special needs, professional expertise demands a comprehensive analysis of the causes of identified problems.     

Internal Realism,Religious Pluralism and Ontology

Internalist pluralism is an attractive and elegant theory. However, there are two apparently powerful objections to this approach that prevent its widespread adoption. According to the first objection, the resulting analysis of religious belief systems is intrinsically atheistic; while according to the second objection, the analysis is unsatisfactory because it allows religious objects simply to be defined into existence. In this article, I demonstrate that an adherent of internalist pluralism can deflect both of these objections, and in the course of so arguing, I deploy a distinction between “conceptual-scheme targetability” and “successful conceptual-scheme targeting”.

A multidimensional, multilevel examination of mother and father involvement among culturally diverse Head Start families

In this study we examined the relationships between family demographics and level of satisfaction with school contact as possible determinants of multiple dimensions of family involvement in early childhood education. Participants included 171 urban, Head Start parents (108 mothers and 63 fathers). Results revealed that for mothers, having less than a high school education was negatively associated with levels of home-school conferencing. For fathers, primary language spoken in the home was associated with both levels of home-school conferencing and school-based involvement, with Polish- and Spanish-speaking fathers participating less compared with their English-speaking counterparts. In addition, fathers of boys reported higher levels of home-school conferencing. Involvement at school was significantly associated with level of satisfaction with school contact for both mothers and fathers. Multilevel analyses revealed parent gender and satisfaction as the most salient predictors of involvement at the level of the family. Implications for future research, as well as family involvement practice and policy, are discussed.     

Cognitive effects of racial diversity: White individuals’ information processing in heterogeneous groups

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that mere anticipation of membership in a racially heterogeneous group can lead White individuals to exhibit more thorough information processing. In Study 1 White participants who expected to discuss a race-relevant topic with a racially diverse group exhibited better comprehension of topical background readings than did Whites assigned to all-White groups. Study 2 replicated these results and indicated that the processing effects were attributable in part to an increase in race-relevant thought activation among White individuals in a diverse setting. No such anticipatory effects of racial composition were observed for Whites expecting to discuss race-neutral topics. Taken together, these studies render untenable the assumption that the observable effects of racial diversity are wholly attributable to the novel contributions of non-White group members. More generally, they emphasize the need for additional empirical investigation of the cognitive processes through which racial heterogeneity influences individual and group performance.     

Genograms: Use in Therapy with Asian Families with Diverse Cultural Heritages

This article focuses on the ways in which genograms can be an effective psychosocial tool for use with Asian families of diverse cultural heritages. Using the case examples of Asians from three countries, viz., Malaysia, Japan, and Cambodia, the authors delineate salient therapeutic themes and map changes from a transgenerational perspective with attention to socio-cultural and political processes. An anthropological stance (Becvar, Contemp Fam Ther 30:1–2, 2008) allows a therapist to be curious about Asian family and kinship systems and join with the family in creating a new narrative that broadens spaces for living. Drawing upon surveys from three training contexts, the voices of Asian mental health practitioners, suggesting culture specific issues for the effective use of genograms with Asian families, are included.     

Dissolving the Diaspora

[Dissolving the Diaspora] provides a Canadian perspective on the problem of intergration viewed through the prism of a particular understanding of multiculturalism. In this article the three key themes; the conceptualisation of diversities, diaspora and dialogue, are identified, and these conceptes are engaged with critically. I argue that despite the many advantages of the multicultural paradigm, there are still a number of fault lines that require critical attention, among which are the relationship of culture to class, and the failure to fully incorporate racism in its vocabulary. I suggest, using the phrase ‘the grammar of social location’, that the language of multiculturalism still ties us to a relatively static model of culture and away from an analysis of the complexity of inequalities. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Racial Diversity or Cultural Safety?: Utilizing Social Identity to Understand the Choice of Racially Segregated Neighborhoods among Middle Class African-Americans

Adding to a growing body of work on the psychology of neighborhood choice, the present research examined middle class black attitudes regarding owning homes in majority white and majority black communities. The principal source consisted of interviews with 35 black middle class homeowners which were subjected to narrative analysis to identify (i) whether and to what extent participants identified with the county in which they lived; (ii) features of their perceived experience responsible for any such identification; and (iii) any attitudes about living in predominately white and predominately black counties that acted as limits to identification. Although homeowners from each county (majority white and majority black) typically favored the county in which they lived, results point to complex motivations that were influenced by negative racial experiences, conceptually different understandings about the value of diversity, and other factors.     

全球生命伦理学:共识的瓦解(上)——对全球性道德的探求:生命伦理学,文化战争和道德多样性

探究道德差异的核心问题以及哪种道德意见被我们采纳,比如为了建立医疗保健伦理模式与决策方法比较传统与后传统、家族本位与个人本位之间的关系。考虑到以道德多元化定义当代人类处境,关于卫生保健政策和生命法则的反思是明智的。这个反思强调了俗世伦理学的道德多元化和为对自由和责任进行俗世化思考的结论之间分歧的意义。     

医患认知差异的因素分析与调适研究

医患认知差异是指医生与患者在诊疗过程中对同一事实和现象的认知之间的差异、矛盾与对立,它是导致医患冲突的深层次诱因。从传统生物医学模式的制约、医忘双方社会角色意识的差异以及医患个体心理特征的差异三方面分析了医患认知差异产生的原因,并从转变角色意识、相互理解和配合、有效的双向沟通以及尊重双方的人格和权利几方面提出了化解矛盾、认知趋同的措施。