Discussion Gender and Ethical Practice in Clinical Psychology

Topic: Cultural Competence and Overall Professional Competence

Professionals in various roles within the field of clinical psychology, work with individuals that are diverse in culture, socioeconomic status, physical and developmental ability, and more. An important part of overall competence in the field is cultural competence.

For this discussion, you may write about a culture or subgroup you already know. Alternatively, you may choose a culture that interests you. Conduct research on that group, and base your main post on what you have learned about that group. The information you present must be backed up with scholarly or peer-reviewed resources to support your responses.

Please do your best to avoid the use of language that is based on common misconceptions, stereotypes, or language that could be viewed as offensive to a specific group. Please be respectful of other people’s views.

• Everyone is made up of multiple identities, including, race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status/class, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, ability/disability, etc. What is one identity dimension with which you are familiar or is of interest to you?
• What are the issues and concerns that mental health professionals and other professions need to be sensitive to when working with this identity dimension (please be specific)? Specifically, what kinds of mistakes or “unaware discrimination” should a professional be careful to avoid?
• Discuss the connection between cultural competence and boundaries of competence within the field. Support this discussion with information in Chapter 5 in the text.
• Explain the difference between professional ethics (as distinct from personal ethics) and legal issues.

In your response posts, please reply to posts about different populations than the one you discussed.