Designing Culturally Gender Sensitive Behavioral

¶ … Designing Culturally Gender Sensitive Behavioral Interventions

The objective of this work is to discuss the considerations of culture or gender in designing behavioral interventions and to examine way to be more culturally and gender sensitive in the design and implementation of behavioral interventions in the school.

Culturally and gender sensitive behavioral interventions are important in the educational setting and will only become more important in the future as the schools become increasingly diverse. School psychologists hold a great responsibility in their influence of teachers and other school personnel in the development of culturally sensitive interactions with students.

CULTURALLY SENSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS

The work entitled: "Culturally Competent Consultation in Schools: Information for School Psychologists and School Personnel" relates that the school psychologist in a year's time "may be asked to consult with school personnel and/or parents of culturally and linguistically diverse students on issues such as the lack of academic progress of a limited-English proficient student, or the behavioral difficulties of a students who recently immigrated to this country." (Melissa Institute, 2006) Breakdowns in communication result many times in an interference in the development and maintenance of a "positive rapport with others from diverse backgrounds." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) School psychologists must necessarily be able to indentify when breakdowns in communications have resulted from a clash of cultures and must as well know how to resolve such issues. In order to practice in a manner that is culturally competent the psychologist working in the educational setting must first understand their own personal culture and how others are impacted by the characteristics of that culture. The cultures of other must be valued and respected and it is important that the school psychologist "learn how to design and implement culturally appropriate interventions...[and]...an understanding of how to build bridges across cultural differences while recognizing that there are individual differences within cultural groups." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) This work states that "...learning to frame the problem and the consultations process in a way that values multiple perspectives and creates emotional safety and the motivational support is also key." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004)

The school's culture and the system of the school must be understood and is inclusive of the development of an awareness of the school "in terms of attitudes and beliefs about culturally and linguistically diverse children." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) it is also very important that the school psychologists work with others in the school and encourage them to learn the same things in order that the entire school is culturally sensitive. Teachers and other school personnel should understand the important in recognizing and decreasing "the tendency to filter perceptions through stereotypes, overemphasize culture, or take a color-blind approach." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) Cultural competence within the problem-solving process has five typical stages as follows:

1) Establishment of a collaborative relationship;

2) Problem is defined in clear, concise and measurable terms;

3) Goals for intervention are established and the intervention is designed;

4) the intervention is implemented;

5) the effectiveness of the intervention is monitored and altered as necessary. (Zins and Erchul, 2000)

Establishing a cooperative partnership requires development of a mutual "sense of trust and respect" and as well, it is important to "develop a sense of shared ownership." Finally, it is important in the collaboration process to "take into consideration how parents from diverse cultures view collaboration in schools. The problem definition and analysis step in this equation is a time when it is critically important to ensure that "cultural differences" are not "...construed as the problem" even though it is necessary to recognize and acknowledge cultural differences at this stage in the process. Cultural differences often lead to "mismatched goals and expectations." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) it is stated that the school psychologist and school staff should 'explore the possibility of a mismatch between common behavioral interventions and the consultee's acceptance of those procedures." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) Finally, it is important to "recognize that successful implementation of an intervention is linked to the match between the design of the intervention and the cultural realities of the home and/or school." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) the integrity of treatment will be "maximized if the intervention's goals and plan are developed in a culturally sensitive and cooperative manner." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) it is stated that implementation problems "...may be linked to unidentified variables." (National Association of School Psychologists, 2004) if this should be the case, it is necessary to explore openly potential barriers. In the evaluation of the intervention, the parents should not be under a negative judgment when goals are failed in being met but instead the goals should be acknowledged as unmet and then barriers to treatment success should be collectively reviewed then designed and implemented.

II. GENDER SENSITIVE INTERVENTIONS

The 10th Annual Conference "Aggression and Suicide Among Children and Youth: Focus on Gender Differences" relates that increasing evidence exists that boys and girls "differ in the development, expression and consequences of aggressive behavior toward others, as well as themselves." This conference was announced to educators, guidance counselors, social workers among others due to the importance of: (1) recognizing gender differences in the development of aggressive and self-injurious behaviors; (2) conducting evidence-based gender-sensitive interventions; (3) assessing suicidality and provision of intervention to treat childhood depression; and (4) implementation of universal indicated and selected interventions at multiple levels to prevent aggressive behavior. (Melissa Institute, 2006)

The importance of gender sensitivity in an educational health program is noted in the work of FRESH 'Focusing Research on Effective School Health' (2008) which states that the FRESH framework "provides the context for effective implementation of skills-based health education programs." (FRESH, 2008) FRESH states that skills-based health education "does change behavior" and notes the studies as follows:

1) USA - Sexuality and HIV education: implemented in four New York City Schools and focused on "correcting facts about AIDS, teaching cognitive skills to appraise risk of transmission, and increasing of knowledge and values, understanding external influences and teaching skills to delay intercourse or to consistently use condoms." Behavioral outcomes in this study were reported to be of a positive nature. (FRESH, 2008)