Twelve Practical Suggestions for Achieving Multicultural Competence

Stuart, Richard B.

¹The Fielding Graduate Institute, University of Washington

²CORRESPONDENCE CONCERNING THIS ARTICLE should be addressed to Richard B. Stuart, P.O. Box 236, Edmonds, WA 98020. E-mail: [email protected]

RICHARD B. STUART received his DSW in psychology and social work from Columbia University. He is the program director of Respecialization in Clinical Psychology at The Fielding Graduate Institute and a clinical professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Washington. His research interests are prediction and treatment of partner abuse, metacognitive and cognitive aspects of violence, and the role of attachment orientation in selection of partners and stability of relationships.

I WISH TO THANK Barbara Jacobson Stuart, Brenda Townes, Nancy Hansen, Anthony F. Greene, and Fred Miller for their valuable suggestions.

Received January 7, 2003, Revision received May 28, 2003, Accepted July 15, 2003

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 35(1):p 3-9, February 2004.

Multicultural competence can be defined as the ability to understand and constructively relate to the uniqueness of each client in light of the diverse cultures that influence each person's perspective. Because the complexity of culture is often overlooked, multicultural research often inadvertently strengthens the stereotypes that it is intended to thwart. To avoid stereotypic thinking, clinicians must critically evaluate cross-cultural research and be thoughtfully creative in applying it to clinical practice. Twelve suggestions are offered for the use of multicultural research as a source of questions that enhance respect for clients' cultural identities rather than as answers that foreclose it.