placement and career development chapter 6

cultural identity

• involves not only a person’s race and ethnicity but encompasses also the person’s national origin, immigration and citizenship status, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, social class and religious/spiritual beliefs

• each one of these cultural dimensions may affect a person’s career development, career decision making and experience of the workplace and level of career success

• it develops as we develop

• related to perceptions

there are 5 proposed tenets concerning culturally encapsulated assumptions

• 1. individualism and autonomy (individualism vs. collectivism)

• 2. affluence (affluence vs. spirituality)

• 3. the structure of opportunity being open to all (equitable vs inequitable opportunity structure)

• 4. the centrality of work in people’s lives (centrality vs noncentrality of work)

• 5. the linearity, progressiveness and rationality of the career development process (personal agency vs sociopolitical determinants)

sociopolitical inequities

• an opportunity based world (abundance of external experiences)

• a barrier based world (scarcity mindset)

• attitudes, perceptions and evaluations about the world from the clients pov

• relate to career decision making process

• not always based on tangible evidence, based on clients subjective view

differences within cultural groups

• 1. identification with multiple cultures

• 2. immigration history (voluntary and forced)

• 3. acculturation (assimilated with dominant and non dominant)

• 4. identity development

strategies of acculturation

• assimilation (high dominant, low nondominant)

• integration (high dominant, high nondominant)

• marginalization (low dominant, low nondominant)

• separation (low dominant, high nondominant)

the cultural formulation approach (CFA)

• was initially developed by the American Psychiatric Association in the year of 2000 as part of the DSM- IV

• since then the CFA has been adopted to career counseling

• leong specifically applied the model to career assessment

• one of the most influential approaches when it comes to culture

the cultural formulation interview

• the CFA application to career assessment as proposed by leong was lacking a specific strategy for discussing cultural issues with clients

• this was remedied in the DSM-5 by incorporating a cultural formulation interview

the cultural formulation interview is organized into four sections

• 1. cultural definition of the problem (help counselor understand client’s perspective)

• 2. cultural perceptions of cause, context and support

• 3. cultural factors affecting self coping and past help seeking

• 4. cultural factors affecting current help seeking

3 categories for questions in the cultural formulation interview

• career concerns (definition and cause of problem, take the words as they are presented do not correct them with fancy terms)

• contextual supports and barriers

• approaches to coping

questions under the career concerns category in the cultural formulation interview

• using your own words, how would you describe your career concerns?

• if you were to explain your career concerns to your family or friends, what would you say? also, what would you say is causing or contributing to your career difficulties?

• ask previous question from a friends and family pov

questions under the contextual supports and barriers category in the cultural formulation interview

• in dealing with your career concerns to whom have you been able to turn for support? what other sources of support do you have in your life?

• besides your career concerns, what other stressors do you have in your life?

• what contextual challenges or barriers will you need to overcome in order to resolve your career concerns or achieve your career goal?

• lets talk cultural identity. by that I am referring to race, ethnicity, the primary language you speak, gender, religion, sexual orientation and disability status. how would you describe your cultural identity? which of these are most important in the way you define yourself?

• are there any ways in which you believe your cultural identity affects your career situation either positively or negatively?

questions under the approaches to coping category in the cultural formulation interview

• up until this point, what have you done on your own to address your career concern?

• up until this point, what other sources of help have you sought in an attempt to deal with your career concern?

• have your friends or family suggested any other coping strategies or sources of help?

• what prompted you to seek career counseling? how is career counseling viewed by your friends and family or within your culture?

• do you have any concerns that cultural differences may interfere with my ability to help you?

verbal processing of enhanced genogram

• after completing the genogram the counselor engages the client in verbal processing

• specifically the counselor asks questions related to the impact of cultural factors such as race and ethnicity, gender, SES, attitudes toward:

  • 1. education and achievement

  • 2. success in the workplace

sample processing questions for culture in career genograms

• what are the major cultural groups represented in your family?

• how are success and failure defined in these cultures?

sample processing questions for family in career genograms

• who would your identity as the leader in your family?

• are there any family rules or expectations that might limit your career options?

sample processing questions for role models in career genograms

• most important aspect of the genogram

• who in your family is viewed as being most successful?

• which family members do you view as role models? what do you admire most about them?

waldron and loomis verbal processing of enhanced genogram

• offered another strategy for processing genogram

• they recommended counselors to invite clients to imagine what each member of their family would tell them about what to be?

• then ask them to reflect on their family members attitudes about work related issues

• additionally on a separate sheet the counselor will ask the client to complete the following sentences for each of 3-5 people on their family trees:

  • work is _

  • money is _

  • success is _

  • to be a good person_

  • my advice to you about work is _

responding effectively to cultural dimensions in the career counseling process

it is extremely valuable for career counselors to adapt specific strategies that enable them to respond effectively to cultural dimensions in the career counseling process

there are 8 major tips that can be helpful for career counselors to accomplish responding effectively to cultural dimensions in the career counseling process

• 1. be aware of yourself and the world around you

• 2. be humble

• 3. get a grip on reality

• 4. think critically

• 5. pay attention to nuances (differences)

• 6. actively seek to understand your client

• 7. take a two pronged approach (client centered interventions, culture centered approach)

• 8. keep learning