Multicultural Counseling Understanding a Client's Level of Acculturation

When dealing with multicultural clients in counseling, it is best to understand the clients’ level of acculturation. Acculturation is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be altered, but the groups remain distinct.

This article compares and contrasts the level of acculturation for two Liberty University students who are also in counseling with Dr. Fernando Garzon, Associate Professor of Psychology at Liberty University.  Hitomi was an informal interview, while Stan was a crisis session to the U.S. culture.

My assessment of acculturation in these individuals includes:  a) language use – Hitomi (Hawkins, 2009) said she reads and writes slower than American students, and struggles with some conversations. Stan does not struggle. However, his native language is important for emotional processing, and Dr. Garzon effectively used language switching (Rivera, 1995) to facilitate this. This helps the client be more spontaneous, less inhibited, and helps bring up repressed memories. (Rivera, 1995). b) generational conflict – both are first-generation intercultural students for approximately five years. Stan’s family in Russia is Christian; Hitomi’s family are atheist, and do not support her religion (Hawkins, 2009). c) persons of color – Stan, a white European has not faced race discrimination. Hitomi, a person of color, has not faced race discrimination, although her circle of friends is limited to Liberty students. d) social supports – both students have primary relationships with Americans. In general, these two students demonstrate biculturalism.

Gladding (2009) informs us that during the initial interview we work with the client to identify the problem. It is important, he tells us, to be flexible with our initial assessment because as we gather more information in future sessions, our view of the problem may change. Assessing a client’s acculturation from an initial interview is not something a counselor would cast in stone; instead, they should reconsider this as more information is revealed in future sessions. As this information is gathered, a counselor would reassess what they have observed about the client’s acculturation as the counseling relationship grows.

As cited by Diller (2007), the work of Marin (1992) views the impact of acculturation based on “the kinds of material that have been gained or lost through acculturation”. Marin’s three levels, and in particular, the immediate level, point to an individual who uses the current language, and associates with the predominant ethnic group of that country. A significant acculturation occurs when they adopt values of the current culture (Diller, 2007). Hitomi left her atheist family and predominantly atheist country to pursue education and life as a Christian. Her values have become increasingly dissimilar to that of her native culture, and for these reasons, my initial assessment is that of intermediate and leaning toward advanced acculturation. With Stan, when asked how his wife was doing, he replied “She hasn’t been very close because of the language barrier.” From this I know she is not Russian, and in future sessions, I can learn her ethnicity.

To help with future assessments, I would like to better understand Japanese gender norms. I felt Hitomi would feel less inhibited speaking to a white female with warmth and empathy. Hill et al. (1988) supports this in his study of counselors using self-disclosure. Their clients reported feeling more normal and reassured, and experiencing greater amounts of insight and sharing. (Kim, B., Hill, C., Gelso, C., Goates, M., Asay, P., and Harbin, J., 2003). In dealing with Russian clients I would want to know more about their grieving process and norms for each gender.

References

Diller, J. V. (2007). Cultural diversity (3rd ed.). Thomson, Brooks/Cole: Belmont, CA.

Gladding, S.T. (2009). Counseling: A comprehensive profession. Pearson: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Hawkins, R.  (2009). Counseling 504 Lecture #1. Acculturation 1. [Power Point]. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University Distance Learning Program.

Kim, B., Hill, C., Gelso, C., Goates, M., Asay, P., and Harbin, J. (2003). Counselor self-disclosure, East Asian American client adherence to Asian cultural values, and counseling process. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 3, 324–332.

Santiago-Rivera, A. (1995). Developing a culturally sensitive treatment modality for bilingual Spanish-speaking clients: incorporating language and culture in counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 12-13.