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How do you as a professional psychologist know if you are competent to treat clients whose cultural origins and values differ from your own? What awareness, knowledge, and skills do you need? With whom should you consult? When should you refer? Adopting an idiographic, inclusive approach, the authors identify 12 minimal multicultural competencies for practice and illustrate their usefulness through 3 case examples. Suggestions for how professional psychologists can augment and evaluate their own multicultural competencies are offered as well as implications for professional psychology educators. Consider the following scenario: Dr. Mary Ann Smith is a European American licensed clinical psychologist trying to build her private practice in a medium-sized town in the upper Midwest. She has worked to become listed on provider panels and realizes how important self-referred individuals with good insurance are to her livelihood. In 1 week, she receives three new clients: a recently fired Native American male nurse filing a discrimination lawsuit against the school district; a Spanish-speaking Mexican American lesbian fighting a custody battle with her ex-husband; and a blind, indigent, 70-year-old Irish American man with depression. "Am I competent to treat these clients?" wonder^ Dr. Smith, "and if not, to whom do I refer?" For professional psychologists like Dr. Smith, working with diverse clients will soon become the norm rather than the exception. Shortly after the year 2050, racial and ethnic minorities will become a numerical majority in the United States (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995). Nearly 75% of the current entering labor force are racial and ethnic minorities or women, and when "baby NANCY DOWNING HANSEN received her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Florida in 1980. She is a member of the clinical psychology faculty at The Fielding Institute. Her professional interests include ethics, multicultural psychology, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and qualitative research.

The current literature on psychopathology and anger suggests that both contribute to interpersonal violence. The present study examined psychopathology and anger expression with two objectives to confirm previous distinctions of personality type among abusive individuals and to examine the relation between these types and anger. Cluster analysis was conducted with data gathered from 40 subjects. Results suggested confirmation of four clusters of interpersonal violence offenders. Furthermore, the most pathological cluster type reported the highest level of total anger experience, while the histrionic cluster type reported the lowest anger expression. These results provide tentative support for a positive relationship between psychopathology and anger, as well as for the distinction between overcontrolled and undercontrolled anger as subtypes of interpersonal violence offenders.

The prevalence of behavior-related diseases is a predominant concern in the health care profession. Further complicating matters, the biomedical disease model has demonstrated limited effectiveness in treating the consequential array of chronic health conditions. Medical educators have been tasked with developing curricula to better prepare physicians to address the complex health issues of the 21st century. A review of empirically supported educational endeavors is essential in planning for future interventions. Prior efforts specific to physician-patient communication and the promotion of health behavior change will be reviewed. Opportunities to enhance medical education by targeting patient-centered care, attitudinal measures, individualized training, and an empirically supported, theoretically based model of change will be presented.

This study examined the construct validity of the multidimensional Robson Self-Esteem Questionnaire (RSEQ). The RSEQ and seven other scales measuring affect and self-esteem-related constructs were completed by 307 undergraduate students. Factor analysis suggested that the RSEQ has three factors, which were labeled Self-Deprecation, Attractiveness, and Self-Respect. Correlations between the RSEQ and related constructs provided strong convergent and discriminant validation that the scale measures self-esteem. Correlations between the factors and the constructs provided moderate support for the independent validity of each of the dimensions.