Awareness, social cognition, and commitment: Developing a social justice orientation in psychology training programs.

Abstract

This study investigates how the awareness of social inequities and racism may serve as a foundation for psychology trainees' social justice self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment. Using the social-cognitive justice developmental framework proposed by Miller et al. (2009), a total of 222 participants were recruited from accredited applied psychology programs across the United States. Participants completed measures assessing their levels of two dimensions of critical consciousness: Egalitarianism and awareness of inequality (Diemer et al., 2017), their colorblind racial attitudes (Neville et al., 2000), and their social justice self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and commitment (Miller et al., 2009). A hypothesized path model was fit to the data. Alternative models were also considered. Results indicated that participants who endorsed egalitarianism and were more aware of social inequities showed greater awareness of racism and, in turn, were more likely to endorse a higher orientation and commitment to social justice. Limitations and implications for future research and training are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis study sought to better understand the factors supporting the promotion of social justice interests and commitment among psychologists in training. We found that trainees who had developed a greater critical awareness of systemic inequality and who endorsed egalitarian attitudes were more likely to be aware of racism in various forms (e.g., blatant racism, institutional racism, and White privilege) and that this was related to endorsing social justice beliefs, expectations, interests, and commitment. These findings highlight the importance of critical attention to social and historical context in clinical training.

Are Training Programs Addressing Anti-Black Racism and White Supremacy? A Descriptive Analysis

“…There appear to be tangible differences in the education and training provided between programs whose faculty and students perceive them to be walking the talk, and programs whose faculty and students perceive that they do not. One such tangible difference appears to be the provision of education about systems of oppression-again, foundational to the critical consciousness-raising called for by Gushue et al (2022). Further, Keum et al (2020Keum et al ( , 2022 found that stronger collective programmatic social justice norms result in stronger advocacy intentions and behaviors amongst students; thus, when programs' behaviors are consistent with their values, it is more likely that students will become genuinely invested and engaged in antiracism and social justice work.…”

“…Even more recently, counseling psychology scholars have critiqued not only the lack of social justice training in counseling psychology, but also the individualized and sanitizing approaches to social justice that pervade existing social justice training (DeBlaere et al, 2019; Grzanka et al, 2019; Gushue et al, 2022; Keum & Miller, 2020). There have been repeated and renewed calls for counseling psychologists to be trained to conceptualize clients and systems in the context of oppressive institutions and the structures that create the very problems upon which they seek to intervene, as well as strategies to intervene at multiple levels (e.g., DeBlaere et al, 2019; Gushue et al, 2022; Keum & Miller, 2020; Wilcox, 2023; Wilcox, Shaffer, et al, 2022). To be sure, counseling psychology has clearly adopted social justice as a central value, and many of its training programs have sought to advance social justice training (see the 2014 special issue of The Counseling Psychologist on nontraditional teaching methods for social justice; e.g., Koch & Juntunen, 2014).…”

Social Justice Practicum in Non-clinical Online Programs: Engagement Strategies and Lessons Learned

“…Social justice can be defined as the equitable distribution of resources, such as access to services, resources, advancement, and engagement (Gushue, 2022;Reisch, 2002). The degree to which social justice is nurtured and felt within a society is determined in large part by those individuals who hold the most power.…”

“…Based on the premise that preparation for social justice work can be effectively nurtured through experiential learning, universities have offered practicum in areas pertaining to social justice for many years (Moody et al, 2022). Social justice is generally discussed in terms of access to resources, participation, diversity, equity, and human rights and there exists a multitude of definitions, creating confusion regarding effective training (Gushue, 2022;Reisch, 2002). Further, social justice tends to be discussed in terms of injustice, leading educators to have trouble designing experiences that provide students with the opportunity to learn about justice in society (Hailes, Ceccolini, Gutowski, & Liang, 2021).…”

Racial microaggressions: Identifying factors affecting perceived severity and exploring strategies to reduce harm

“…At the same time, more covert forms of racism also endure, such as avoidance and exclusion of racialized people, and the application of negative stereotypes to them that continue to limit opportunities for advancement (Dovidio et al, 2018; Neblett, 2019; Williams, 2020). Accompanying this persistence of both overt and covert racism, there has also been a general increase in efforts to raise awareness of racial and other social injustices (Gushue et al, 2022). Indeed, educational programming about racial injustice is common in organizations and institutions, and there is growing recognition that racialized individuals often face discrimination in accessing employment, education, and healthcare, and continue to endure bias‐related challenges in their daily social interactions (Kang et al, 2016; Pietri et al, 2018; Ravenell & Ogedegbe, 2014; Salter et al, 2018).…”