Cultural Competence in Clinical Psychology Training: A Qualitative Investigation of Student and Academic Experiences

Abstract

Objective Recent years have seen a marked increase in attention to cultural competence in clinical psychology practice in Australia. While the body of literature on the need for cultural competence is expanding, this is the first study that analyses how cross‐cultural training and practice is experienced and related to standardised models of cultural competence. Method Twelve participants (8 students and 4 academics; 9 females and 3 males, ages 22–57) in two Australian universities were interviewed on their experiences with cultural competence during clinical psychology training. Each semi‐structured interview took about 30 min and focused on identifying the training experiences and needs for cultural competence. Results Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the transcripts delivered three master themes: experiences of culture, strategies for culturally competent practice, and experiences of cultural competence development. Conclusions Students and academics experienced a “western” bias in training, and consequently adopted a variety of strategies to adapt their practice with culturally non‐western clients. These findings draw attention to the need for structured cultural competence development in professional training programs.

Clinical psychology students’ perspectives on involving transgender community members in teaching activities within their training in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“…Two reviews of interventions aimed at improving knowledge of LGBTQ health issues (Sekoni et al, 2017) and transgender health care specifically (Korpaisarn & Safer, 2018) reveal promising preliminary evidence, such as improved knowledge, comfort in caring for transgender clients, and reduced transphobia (Korpaisarn & Safer, 2018; Sekoni et al, 2017). Thus, education about transgender health care is important for improving practitioners’ cultural competencies for working with transgender clients, which is particularly significant for clinical psychology students (Geerlings et al, 2018).…”

Culturally competent practice: A mixed methods study among students, academics and alumni of clinical psychology master’s programs in the Netherlands

“…Minor adaptations were made to the MAKSS for cross-cultural application. Explicit reference to the United States in Items 35, 37 and 38 were replaced with references to the Netherlands, and reference to “Europe and Canada” were replaced by two countries which were part of the broader research: Australia and Singapore ( Geerlings, Thompson, & Tan, 2017 ; Geerlings, Thompson, Bouma, & Hawkins, in press ). The term “white” removed from the phrase “white mainstream clients” and the terms “gay men” and “gay women” were replaced with the phrases “men who are sexually attracted to men” and “women who are sexually attracted to women” respectively.…”

“That’s the World Standard”: A Critical Ethnography of “Universal” Knowledge

“…A final category of fieldwork contexts were psychologists’ work sites, including hospitals and clinics, and related public places such as lunchrooms. Work visits were often combined with a semistructured interview focused on experiences of practicing clinical psychology (see Geerlings, Thompson, Bouma et al for the interview outline). In total, fifteen interviews were conducted in Singapore: five graduate students, five alumni, and five academics of clinical psychology programs.…”

“…Additionally, the ethnographic data invoke theory rather than being derived from theory. Phenomenological anthropology thus moves away from distanced analytical approaches that are guided by theory, such as those often used in psychology (Geerlings, Thompson, Bouma et al ; Geerlings, Thompson, Kraaij et al ; Geerlings et al ). In our experience, phenomenological anthropology better equips us to understand the processual nature of knowledge contestation within the social contexts in which they occur.…”