Incorporating cultural diversity into psychology training programs.

Abstract

With the changes that are occurring in societal demographics, graduate psychology training programs need to address the issue of preparing future psychologists to conduct research and treatment with a rapidly growing minority population. This chapter serves as an introduction to Parts I1 and I11 by presenting a brief overview of the status of minorities in the training of psychologists and by highlighting a number of factors evident in the training programs presented in Parts I1 and I11 that have successfully incorporated cultural diversity into their curricula and training process. Minorities in PsychologyIn Part I, the authors have provided the rationale for the training of more ethnic minority psychologists. The shortage of minorities in the educational pipeline leading to the PhD in psychology has been evident for a number of years. Data collected by the Office of Demographic, Employment, and Educational Research (ODEER) of the American Psychological Association ( APA) strongly indicates that the profession needs to increase its efforts in the area of minority recruitment and retention. According to a report from ODEER (Pion, Kohout, & Wicherski, 19891, ethnic minorities make up only 5% of the graduate faculty in psychology. Of the 5%, 3% are African American, 1% Hispanic Ame'rican, and 1% Asian American. American Indians make up less than 1% of graduate faculty positions. These figures have not DIVERSITY IN TRAINING PROGRAMS 67

Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color.

“…The semistructured interviews were based on questions drawn from an exhaustive literature review about strategies used to enhance minority student recruitment and retention (Lott, 2005). Interview questions concerned student recruitment strategies (APA, 2000a;Arredondo, Chinsky, & Ayers, 1994;DeFour & Hirsch, 1990;Hammond & Yung, 1993;Ponterotto, Burkard, et al, 1995;Rogers, Ponterotto, Conoley, & Wiese, 1992), the student selection process (Guzman, 1991), student retention strategies (Bowman, Bowman, & DeLucia, 1990;Davis, 1991;Hale, 1991;Hurtado et al, 1999;Ponterotto, Alexander, et al, 1995;Rogers et al, 1998;Suarez-Balcazar, Durlak, & Smith, 1994), and the overall institutional training environment (Benson, 1990;Gregory, 2000;Hammond & Yung, 1993;Townsend, 1994). Two versions of the interview protocol were developed to target either faculty or student participants.…”

Making psychology inclusive: A history of education and training for diversity in American psychology.

“…Philip Guzman, then director of APA's Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, described the characteristics of successful programs (Guzman, 1991). Such programs, Guzman (1991) pointed out, require commitment from all the concerned and relevant parties: administrators, deans, departmental chairs, faculty (both minority and nonminority), and students. Sufficient financial support was also a characteristic of effective programs.…”

Tension and opportunity in post-World War II American psychology.

“…Finally, effective programs incorporated training in cultural diversity into all aspects of the program, so that all students, not just ethnic minorities, benefited. At the best programs, multicultural viewpoints were salient but normal features of the entire graduate experience (Guzman, 1991;Hammond & Yung, 1993;Porche-Burke, 1990).…”