Career Development and Diverse

Populations
Chapter 4

Definition of Multicultural
Counseling

Predictions by Johnston and

Packer
Average age of workforce will rise while
the pool of young workers will decrease.
More women will enter the workforce.
Minorities will make up a larger share of
the new entrants into the workforce.
Immigrants will make up the largest share
of increase in the population and workforce
since World War I.

Some Basic Facts

Unemployment rate for African Americans
has been above 11% each year since 1978
(2 1/2 times the rate for Whites).
Only 36.9% of African American men are
employed as executives, administrators,
salespersons, and managers (compared to
61.8% for White men).

Some Basic Facts, continued

More than half of employed Hispanic women are
clerical workers or operatives.
Poverty rate of Native Americans is twice (23.7%)
that of the general population.
Men are 18.7 times as likely to be in higher
prestige occupations in science, math, or
technology than women.
Only 33.6% of persons with disabilities are in the
workforce.

American Assumptions

Individualism and autonomy

Affluence
Opportunity open to all
Centrality of work in peoples lives
Linearity and rationality of the career
development process

Universal or Culture-Specific
Models?
Etic perspectives - maintain that career
interventions for members of minority
groups should be the same as those used for
the majority.
Emic perspectives - highlight the
importance of offering career development
interventions that are specific to the clients
culture.

Universal Elements of Healing in

All Cultures (Fischer et al.)

The therapeutic relationship

Shared worldview
Client expectations
Ritual or intervention

Acculturation
The process of adopting the cultural traits or social
patterns of another group (Stein,1975)
Language familiarity and usage, cultural heritage,
ethnicity, ethnic pride and identity, interethnic
interactions, and interethnic distance influence
acculturation (Padilla, 1980)
Persons may be marginal (not accepting either
culture fully) or bicultural (accepting both fully)

Racial Identity Models

Models of racial identity help us understand
that the status of racial identity -- for both
counselors and clients -- can influence the
career intervention process at several levels.

Using Assessment
Must assure that assessment is valid,
reliable, and appropriate for the clients
cultural and linguistic context.
Must assure that the test does not have
cultural bias.

Cross Model

Pre-encounter
Encounter
Immersion-Emersion
Internalization
Internalization-Commitment

Gender Differences in
Socialization
Stereotypically reinforce competition and
skill mastery in boys, relationships and
connectedness in girls
Affect initial selection of occupation and
opportunities for mentoring and promotion

Feminist Identity Model

(Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnson)

Stage 1: Passive Acceptance

Stage 2: Revelation
Stage 3: Embeddedness-Emancipation
Stage 4: Synthesis
Stage 5: Active Commitment

Special Needs of Women

(Cook, Heppner, & OBrien)

Dealing with attending to the needs of

others
Learning to negotiate in the workplace
Accessing quality child care
Handling sexual harassment in the
workplace
Accessing mentors

Special Needs of Men

Understanding how socialization has
influenced their career behaviors
Learning to express feelings
Learning how to manage and reduce stress
Identifying strategies to participate more
fully in life roles other than work

Four-Stage Model of Lesbian

Identity Development (Sophie)
Stage 1: Awareness of homosexual feelings
without disclosing these to others
Stage 2: Testing and exploration of emerging
homosexual identity with limited disclosure to
heterosexuals
Stage 3: Identity acceptance and preference for
gay social interactions
Stage 4: Identify integration with movement from
a dichotomous (homosexual, heterosexual)
worldview to integrated

Six-Stage Model of Identity

Development for Gay Men and Lesbian
Women (Cass, 1979)

Confusion
Comparison
Tolerance
Acceptance
Pride
Synthesis

Definition of Persons with

Disabilities
One who is usually considered to be
different from a normal person -- physically,
physiologically, neurologically, or
psychologically -- because of accident,
disease, birth defect, or developmental
problem (Herr & Cramer, 1996)

Another Definition
A person who has physical or mental
impairment that substantially limits one or
more major life activities, or has a record of
such impairment, or is regarded as having
such an impairment (Americans with
Disabilities Act, 1990)

Americans with Disabilities Act

Employers can only consider essential job
functions when hiring or promoting.
Employers must make reasonable
accommodations in the workplace.

Career Development Issues of

Persons with Disabilities (Zunker, 1998)

Adjusting to disability
Confronting attitudinal barriers
Lack of role models
Developing social/interpersonal skills
Developing a positive self-concept
Developing skills for independent living

Competencies for Working with

Persons with Disabilities
Interpret and advise about legislation,
policy, guidelines, and rights
Use diagnostic and informal assessment
Assess functional limitations and adapt
methods of occupational exploration
Apply theory to assist with analysis of selfconcept or developmental tasks deficits

Competencies for Working with

Persons with Disabilities, continued
Engage in effective individual and group
counseling
Team with other specialists for career
planning and placement
Work with employers to develop or
restructure jobs
Plan and implement skill-building
workshops or experiences

Components of Culturally Sensitive

Career Interventions (Herr & Kramer)
Possession of knowledge and skills
appropriate in any helping relationship
Recognition of personal attitudes and values
Knowledge of cultural context from which
clients come
Ability to identify special needs

Components of Culturally Sensitive

Career Interventions, continued
Ability to assist culturally different clients
understand that they do have choices, some
of which include consequences.
Skill to assist culturally different
individuals to deal effectively with
discrimination when it does occur
Skill to discern between client deficits that
result from socioeconomic class and those
from membership in a racial or ethnic group