Cultural Considerations Resource Paper
Explain cultural considerations that the counselor must account for when working with a client from each of the following groups:
1. Immigrants (Documented and Undocumented)
Culturally appropriate skills determine the success or failure of counseling. Immigrant clients must be clearly understood in order to treat them well. According to (Etemadi, 2013), counselors need to consider the language of the immigrant. In this case, both individual and family therapy would require an interpreter who understands both English and the language used by the clients. Bicultural stress is another cultural factor to consider due to its effectiveness when doing family counseling at diverse influence and degrees on both parents and children. Immigrant populations embedded in over one culture may have conflicting values, and in this case authoritative counseling would be called for. (Etemadi, 2013). The value of emotional expression by immigrant clients is still another area to focus on by a counselor because certain groups of immigrants may not be seeing its importance. Last is any cultural reason for immigration as each person has a different reason for immigration.
2. Refugees
Counselors encounter various problems when counseling refugees, both adults and children. The most important cultural factor to consider is bicultural pressure, tension, worry, strain, trauma, and anxiety. (Rasmussen, 2011) This consideration will help in counseling refugees as a family unit at different points and at the same time have a positive impact to parents and kids of understanding themselves and the world at large. Language barrier between a counselor and refugees is another factor to consider. Refugee children may decline counseling sessions simply because of language barrier and in this case authoritative counseling with an interpreter is necessary. Perceptions to counseling aid by the refugee clients is also another important focus area by a therapist, whether there are any success stories about counseling in their culture or not. (Rasmussen, 2011). The last area to account for is the refugees’ cultural background since counseling is often a new or foreign concept to most refugees, and a system of care approach of counseling is the most effective in this case.
Discuss the cultural issues and trends that specifically apply to each of the following regional population groups of the United States:
1. The Hmong in California
The Hmong struggle to maintain their ethnic culture as their tradition of favor big families with many kids. The main cultural issue and trend of the Hmong people in California is conflict with the medical system used in the US. Illness is viewed as a supernatural event by the Hmong in California, and according to their belief system- illness is caused by spirits such as shaman and body spirits. (Pfeifer, 2003). The animistic and barbaric beliefs of the Hmong refugees in California cloud their perception and conception of illness and also validate most of their cultural practices. The Hmong in California belief that the body spirits cause illness when they want an animal sacrifice and sacrificing the right animal heals the victim. According to (Pfeifer, 2003), the Hmong culture views illness in terms of symptomatology, that is, through injury, pain, change in color, weakness, coldness in extremities, fever or any other extra-ordinary thing. In their culture, there is no mention of therapy and medicinal treatment.
2. Cuban Americans in Florida
In the Cuban American culture, families are matriarchal and thus female are more superior. The Cuban American women have higher authority for they contribute to the household income, family security, and family independence (Larry, Beatriz, & Maritzia, 2004). The Cuban American culture requires that women remain the emotional mediators and providers within the family.
In the Cuban American culture still, a family unit is recognized as an important value system. The Cuban American culture associates depressive episodes with one’s desire to isolate his or herself from a family unit. (Larry, Beatriz, & Maritzia, 2004). For counselors, family counseling is the right approach in this cultural group.
Although family counseling is helpful for the Cuban Americans in Florida, male family members are often resistant to it. (Larry, Beatriz, & Maritzia, 2004). A counselor treating a Cuban American for depression must see beyond the individual client to consider family dynamics, including the clients concerns about the general views that his family will form after diagnosis as some may feel like the family’s reputation is in jeopardy.
3. Hispanic Americans in the Southwest
Hispanics culture greatly impacts on their way of syndrome presentation. The culture of Hispanic Americans in the Southwest is known for its collectivist-orientation, personal connectedness in interactions, and respect for authority. (American Pyschiatric Association, 2019). The culture of Hispanic Americans residing in the Southwest calls for indirect communication and the use of allusions, jokes, third persons, proverbs, stories, and metaphors to transmit information is recommended. Also, the respect for parental and psychiatry authority persists through life, here children and counseling clients are not entitled to talk back against the directions of the authority. The other important cultural attribute of Hispanic Americans in the Southwest is the high respect over the spiritual domain, that is, supernatural forces and use of saints as the intermediaries. (American Pyschiatric Association, 2019). Extended family is another protective factor of the Hispanics culture. For Hispanic Americans in Southwest, having mental illness and receiving counseling/ treatment is traumatizing. The immigration status, cultural barriers, language barriers, and poor access to affordable health insurance derail their treatment.
4. Your choice of a White ethnic group (e.g., German, Irish, Italian)
Italian-Americans have a unique cultural experience as they endorse ethnic values which are not endorsed by other White ethnic groups in America. The staunch adherence to these unique values impacts the manner in which Italian-Americans view mental health treatment. (Carnevale, 2003) Italian-Americans endorse more collateral social relations in that they value group needs to personal needs, more life enjoyment in the present time, and more emotional expressiveness. The Italian-Americans born and raised in America associate themselves with individualism for they break away from the previous cultural belief of the past generations. In terms of acculturation, Italian Americans encounter a confusion regarding their ethnic identity as the 2nd and 3rd Italian American generations feel not necessarily Italians, yet they are not fully American. (Carnevale, 2003). Children of immigrant Italians in the United States of America undergo intergenerational disagreements because there is a conflict between the dominant American culture and the Italian cultural norms, values, and identity with which their parents have been raised.
References
- American Pyschiatric Association. (2019). Working with Latino/a and Hispanic Patients. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
- Carnevale, N. C. (2003). “No Italian spoken for the duration of the war”: language, ItalianAmerican identity, and cultural pluralism in the world war II years. Journal of American Ethnic History, 3-33.
- Etemadi, S. (2013). Multicultural counseling with the immigrant and refugee communities. Counseling Today, 1-8.
- Larry, C., Beatriz, C. M., & Maritzia, D. (2004). The Cuban American With Depression in Primary Care. The Journal of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry, 213-216.
- Pfeifer, M. E. (2003). Hmong Americans” Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. Asian Nation, 22-25. Retrieved from http://www.asian-nation.org/hmong.shtml
- Rasmussen, C. M. (2011). Cross-cultural counseling of recent immigrants. Counseling Today, 50-62.