Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Training racial/ethnic minorities, or people of Color (POC), to provide culturally competent mental health care has gained increasing significance in counselor education and applied psychology programs in the past 30 years. From a developmental perspective, race may be the most salient psychosocial lens through which POC trainees perceive and experience professional training; multicultural supervision might be the primary mode for developing their cultural competence. However, supervision may not sufficiently attend to POC trainees' race-related characteristics. To better understand the possible influence of POC trainees' racial psychosocial development and experiences of multicultural supervision on their competence in counseling clients of Color, the present study examined relationships among POC trainees' racial identity attitudes, perceptions of multicultural supervision, and self-reported multicultural counseling competencies. POC trainees (N = 203) from clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs, who had completed at least one semester of therapy supervision, completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Helms, 2011), the Multicultural Supervision Competencies Questionnaire (Wong & Wong, 1999), and the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (Sodowsky et al., 1994). Canonical correlation and regression analyses were used to investigate relationships among the variables. The canonical correlation analyses revealed three statistically significant patterns: (a) "Competent Internalization," wherein trainees reported positive relationships between self-actualizing racial identity attitudes (i.e., Internalization) and multicultural counseling competencies; (b) "Racially Ambivalent Relationships" characterized trainees endorsing low levels of Dissonant and Immersion/Resistance racial identity and increased competence in managing racial/cultural dynamics in counseling relationships; and (c) "Supervision Incompetence," characterized by POC trainees rating supervisors' cultural competence and their own multicultural knowledge, awareness, and skills competencies as low. Two multiple regression analyses indicated that only Internalization racial identity attitudes uniquely contributed to predicting trainees' perceptions of supervisors' cultural competence. Results were discussed with respect to how supervisors might utilize Helms's (1995) racial identity theory in multicultural supervision to assess and promote racial identity development and enhanced multicultural counseling competencies. Methodological limitations of the study and implications for research and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Despite advances in health, science, and technology, U.S. healthcare lags in providing access to care and quality care to racial and ethnic minorities. Cultural competence has been noted as a strategy to improve access and quality. The purpose of this project was to assess public health nurses' cultural competence before and after participating in cultural competence informational modules. Two conceptual models were used in this project for theoretical guidance: Leininger's cultural care diversity and universality theory and Campinha-Bacote's process of cultural competence. To assess the nurses' cultural competence, the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist questionnaire was e-mailed to 57 public health nurses at a local health department. Survey participants remained anonymous. Data were collected on demographics. A paired t test was conducted to compare the statistical significance of the results. A quantitative software tool was used to analyze the data. Study results showed a confidence interval of 95% at p = 0.15, indicating that cultural competence informational modules made a significant difference between the pretest and the posttest of the Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Checklist. Thus, cultural competence informational modules make a difference in public health nurses' awareness, knowledge, and skills, which can enhance their ability to provide culturally competent care to racial and ethnic minorities. The implications of this project for social change include supporting health care professionals' ability to promote and implement cultural competence practices for all populations to decrease health disparities

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Historically, racial and ethnic minority (REM) communities have faced reduced access to resources for mental and emotional health issues. While research has placed a greater emphasis on REM experiences, there is still a need to further understand the unique contextual factors surrounding mental health challenges among these marginalized groups. Research on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) among REM communities is one area in need of further evaluation. Therefore, this study is a content analysis of literature analyzing the current research focused on the intersection of REM communities and OCD experiences. The purpose of the study is to analyze OCD research among REM communities in the United States in order to support researchers and clinicians with the tools and direction needed to provide greater representation, more effective treatment, and higher quality of life for these underserved populations. Across a 21 year-span analyzed (2000-20), 47 articles were found with a focus on OCD among REM populations, with African Americans having the largest proportion of focus (27 articles, 57.4%). 8 of the 47 articles (22%) utilized ethnic identity measures, and none of the articles assessed acculturation. 11 of the articles included clinical samples, and 28 of 47 (60%) articles were funded. Utilization of OCD measures, common research topics, and implications for clinical work and future research are also examined and discussed.

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<p>Postdoctoral scholars encounter various challenges as they navigate the gap between graduate school and faculty or industry positions, one of which includes the challenge of work-family conflict and balance. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields represent one sector of the workforce where a closer examination of work-family conflict and balance is important due to the rise in prominence of these fields and the unique populations of people who are underrepresented within these fields. Scholars have identified various experiences or constructs (e.g., bias) that suggest that STEM environments may not be particularly welcoming or supportive for racially and ethnically underrepresented minorities (URMs). The transitional stage of being a postdoctoral scholar in combination with high work demands and a “chilly” or unsupportive work environment may contribute to work-family conflict among racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars in STEM, which could contribute to the underrepresentation of racially and ethnically URMs in the STEM fields and/or the premature exit of these postdoctoral scholars from STEM fields. </p><p>Using role congruity perspective (Diekman & Eagly, 2008), I examined the function of goal endorsement (communal or agentic) as a possible cultural moderator in the indirect relationship between work demand and work-family conflict. This study formulated and empirically tested the relationships between work demand, perceived work environment, goal endorsement (communal or agentic), work-family conflict, and satisfaction with work-family balance. Two models were examined to differentiate two different aspects perceived work environment: (a) one using a supportive work environment variable as a mediator of the relationship between perceived work demand and work-family conflict, and (b) one using a hostile work environment variable as a mediator of the relationship between perceived work demand and work-family conflict. Hypotheses regarding the moderating role of a communal goal orientation and an agentic goal orientation in the indirect relationship between work demand and work-family conflict across the two models (supportive work environment and hostile work environment) were assessed. </p><p>Data was collected from 282 racially and ethnically underrepresented minority postdoctoral scholars in the STEM fields enrolled in postdoctoral positions at universities through an online survey. Using structural equation modeling, results revealed that the indirect effect between work demand and work-family conflict was significant and strongest at low levels of a communal goal endorsement and the indirect effect gradually became weaker until it was nonsignificant as racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars’ communal goal endorsement increased. The results suggest that in the face of microaggressions in the workplace, racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars’ high value of communion serves as a protective factor, which reduces the indirect effect of work demand on work-family conflict.Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are presented alongside implications for counseling practice.</p>

South Asians are the third fastest growing racial/ethnic minority group in the United States with distinct cultural characteristics. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S, including South Asians, across several life domains: work, home life/education, social activities, economic, emotional and physical health, infection, quarantine, and positive changes. The COVID-19 pandemic may have critically impacted South Asians with traumatic event experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity across several life domains. Limited work suggests high rates of interpersonal traumas and substantial PTSD symptom severity in the South Asian community. Uniquely, the current study examined which life domains impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic associated with a greater count of traumatic event types, interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal traumas, and PTSD symptom severity. Results revealed that negative experiences in social activities, as well as distress in economic, emotional, and physical health domains, were significantly associated with the count of traumatic event types. Negative social activity experiences, and distress in the economic and emotional health domains, were also significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity. Quarantine and physical health domains significantly associated with the count of interpersonal traumas, while COVID-19-related experiences (in social, quarantine, and infection domains) significantly associated with the count of non-interpersonal traumas. Findings inform clinically relevant pandemic research in a vulnerable population and provide trauma and PTSD prevalence estimates in the South Asian community.

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