All individuals are a part of at least one culture. These cultural contingencies shape behavior, behavior that may or may not be acceptable or familiar to behavior analysts from another culture. To better serve individuals, assessments and interventions should be selected with a consideration of cultural factors, including cultural preferences and norms. The purpose of this paper is to provide suggestions to serve as a starting point for developing behavior analysts' cultural awareness skills. We present strategies for understanding behavior analysts' personal cultural values and contingencies and those of their clients, integrating cultural awareness practices into service delivery, supervision, and professional development, and becoming culturally aware in everyday practice.

In recent years, the demands for behavior analysis to serve consumers with diverse cultural backgrounds have significantly increased. The field is in great need of culturally competent behavior analysts who can integrate appropriate cultural considerations to their programs. The field of behavior analysis can address this growing need by fostering cultural competency in professional training through increasing relevant training opportunities and the development of culture- and diversity-relevant educational curricula and materials, and by supporting efforts to increase the number of ethnically and racially diverse behavior-analytic workforces in academic and professional settings. Together, we can promote cultural awareness and cultural competencies in professional behavior-analytic training. However, there are challenges for fostering culturally diverse professionals, especially during the academic training phase, which include language barriers, negative perceptions about cultures that are different from one’s own, microaggressions in work and academic settings, lack of mentoring opportunities, adverse campus climates, and tokenism. Some potential ways to address such challenges include the development of culture- and diversity-related curricula, mentoring opportunities, and greater support for minority and culturally diverse students and faculty. The purpose of this commentary was to increase awareness about the importance of cultural understanding and competency, as well as a diverse workforce in the field of behavior analysis, a necessary step to better serve those consumers from multicultural backgrounds.

The United States Census bureau projects there will be significant increases in racial and ethnic diversity over the next four decades, in part due to international migration (Guarneri & Ortman, 2009). Due to the increase in culturally diverse populations working within the framework of behavior analysis, clinicians must ensure that they are properly educated and aware of cultural competences. While there have been guidelines established for responsible conduct, and diversity policies, there has yet to be standards to ensure cultural competence in the field of behavior analysis. This article will attempt to define culture, competence and cultural competence, as well as provide recommendations for application and future challenges.

The landscape of the population in the United States is diversifying, as are the individuals who have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorder now affects one of out every 68 children. Although the diagnostic criteria do not differ, there are differences in time of diagnosis, treatment and acceptability of the diagnosis in various cultures, which is important for clinicians to understand. One approach to autism intervention is applied behavior analysis (ABA), which seeks to intervene on socially significant behavior. In addition, to using an approach such as ABA, which emphasis social significance, individuals may also use a cultural broker. The cultural broker can help to bridge the gap between parties and promote more effective treatment experience and thus help to ensure a more culturally sensitive approach to intervention.

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