Topic 5 DQ 1
Assessment Description: Review the explanations of acculturation and enculturation in the Sun
et al. article, "Acculturation and Enculturation as Predictors of Psychological Help-Seeking
Attitudes (HSAs) Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities: A Meta-Analytic Investigation." How
does multicultural adaptation impact those seeking behavioral health services? What can
professionals do to help diverse clients get the services they need?
Answer:
Multicultural adaptation can impact those seeking behavioral health services
because the cultures a person adapts to could shape how they view behavioral health and
therapy. From looking at different sources, I understand multicultural adaptation to be similar
to a blending of cultures. For example, immigrants that come to a country would open up and
accept a few beliefs or values from the country they went to while holding on their old culture
and beliefs. I also think that acculturation, enculturation, and multicultural adaptation is a non-
linear cycle of development, each generation that is in the new country would take and give
beliefs until there is a blended mix of the two or one set of beliefs is pushed away and the
other is completely accepted. I think an important point from the Sun et al. article is that
studies have been done and show that people can have more than one cultural view but how
those views work together and are interconnected can drastically vary (Sun et al., 2016). I
take this to mean that maybe two people share cultural views of Japan and America, but the
level that one of those people look at the cultural views of Japan could be higher than that of
American cultural views while the other person is the opposite way and so they could look and
agree with the same two cultures but actually use those views in their lives in different ways.
I think there are a few things that professionals can do to help diverse clients receive services
they need and deserve to have available to them. I think the first, and most important, one is to
keep an open mind and always be trying to learn new things about different cultures that they
could come across. Without growing up in a specific culture, there could always be small little
things that a professional could miss out on and by reading new journals or books or taking
courses about different cultures can help keep the professional up-to-date on information about
a culture. The second thing in my mind is to talk to the client to know what culture they
connect to most and use the professional's knowledge of that culture to help the client feel at
ease with the professional. For example, if the professional is from an individualistic society
and the client they work with is from a collective society, they could suggest bringing a family
member or suggest different ways to discuss topics with family members so that the collective
is still involved for the client to feel comfortable.
Assessment Description: Review the explanations of acculturation and enculturation in the Sun
et al. article, "Acculturation and Enculturation as Predictors of Psychological Help-Seeking
Attitudes (HSAs) Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities: A Meta-Analytic Investigation." How
does multicultural adaptation impact those seeking behavioral health services? What can
professionals do to help diverse clients get the services they need?
Answer:
Multicultural adaptation can impact those seeking behavioral health services
because the cultures a person adapts to could shape how they view behavioral health and
therapy. From looking at different sources, I understand multicultural adaptation to be similar
to a blending of cultures. For example, immigrants that come to a country would open up and
accept a few beliefs or values from the country they went to while holding on their old culture
and beliefs. I also think that acculturation, enculturation, and multicultural adaptation is a non-
linear cycle of development, each generation that is in the new country would take and give
beliefs until there is a blended mix of the two or one set of beliefs is pushed away and the
other is completely accepted. I think an important point from the Sun et al. article is that
studies have been done and show that people can have more than one cultural view but how
those views work together and are interconnected can drastically vary (Sun et al., 2016). I
take this to mean that maybe two people share cultural views of Japan and America, but the
level that one of those people look at the cultural views of Japan could be higher than that of
American cultural views while the other person is the opposite way and so they could look and
agree with the same two cultures but actually use those views in their lives in different ways.
I think there are a few things that professionals can do to help diverse clients receive services
they need and deserve to have available to them. I think the first, and most important, one is to
keep an open mind and always be trying to learn new things about different cultures that they
could come across. Without growing up in a specific culture, there could always be small little
things that a professional could miss out on and by reading new journals or books or taking
courses about different cultures can help keep the professional up-to-date on information about
a culture. The second thing in my mind is to talk to the client to know what culture they
connect to most and use the professional's knowledge of that culture to help the client feel at
ease with the professional. For example, if the professional is from an individualistic society
and the client they work with is from a collective society, they could suggest bringing a family
member or suggest different ways to discuss topics with family members so that the collective
is still involved for the client to feel comfortable.
