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Chapter 2
USING CONCEPTUAL SKILLS TO UNDERSTAND, ASSESS, AND
ADDRESS BACKGROUND
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY, CONTEXT, MULTICULTURALISM,
AND INTERPRETATION
Chapter Overview
Chapter 2 focuses on using conceptual skills to promote understanding of people’s backgrounds and presents the
following conceptual skills relevant to understanding and helping people deal with both background and current
issues:
A modified version of Bloom’s taxonomy is presented and its use is illustrated in several ways.
Content
What are the facts?
Process
Comprehension
Organization
Analysis/Synthesis
Interpretation
Application
Evaluation
Making helpful interpretations
The concept of interpretation is defined, pitfalls of the intervention are mentioned and examples of the
intervention are provided. Differing viewpoints on interpretation are discussed and effective use and
characteristics are presented.
Understanding the importance of context
Eight elements are important in providing understanding of the context of someone’s initial request for
clinical services:
1. Demographic characteristics of the client
2. Source of referral
3. Choice of clinician
4. Treatment facility
5. Precipitant for seeking services
6. Motivation
7. Presenting problem(s)
8. Strengths and assets
Developing multicultural awareness and competencies
Multicultural counseling competencies are discussed in terms of how the cultural, ethnic, spiritual, and
socioeconomic background of both the client and the clinician are important variables in the treatment
process.
Using Bloom’s taxonomy to facilitate understanding of the effects and importance of multicultural factors
in both our clients’ lives and our own lives
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Multiple Choice Questions
1. This is the lowest level of understanding, making use of information without necessarily relating it to other
information or realizing its implications
a. Organizing
b. Analyzing
c. Comprehending
d. Applying
2. This entails integrating information from disparate sources such as interviews, client records, clinician
observation, inventories, and discussions with others who are familiar with the client
a. Organizing
b. Interpreting
c. Synthesizing
d. Applying
3. ___________ involves giving a deeper meaning to the information that has been provided, looking at the
underlying significance and impact of the client’s experiences and reactions.
a. Interpretation
b. Analyzing
c. Organizing
d. Applying
4. Read the following example:
What approaches seem most likely to be effective in building a sound therapeutic relationship with a client and
helping this person achieve his/her treatment goal?
This question is an example of which step of processing client information
a. Analyze/Synthesize
b. Interpret
c. Apply
d. Evaluate
5. _______ encompasses not only the context and characteristics of the client but also the characteristics, attitudes,
and skills of the clinician and the relationship between the client and the clinician.
a. application
b. ethnic identity
c. countertransference
d. multiculturalism
6. In terms of her worldview, Eileen believes that the appropriate role for an African American woman is to
become a wife and mother and put her needs after those of her family. This is an example of
a. discrimination
b. comprehension
c. transference
d. analysis
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7. The contrast between the context of Eileen’s life during her adolescent years and her present context has
contributed greatly to her current confusion regarding her appropriate role. This is an example of
a. diversity
b. interpretation
c. synthesis
d. organization
8. Clinicians are likely to have success in improving their multicultural counseling competencies if they
a. are honest and realistic about their own prejudices and do not counsel individuals from those cultures
which they have prejudices against
b. are aware of issues of power and privilege
c. do not approach the treatment process any differently based on a client’s cultural background
d. ignore their own heritage and background as it has no significance to the treatment process
9. All of the following are helpful interpretations except
a. I have a hunch that you enjoy all the attention you receive when you get in trouble for talking in class.
Maybe that makes it hard for you to stop that behavior. What do you think about that?
b. I wonder if your mother’s abandonment of you and your father has led you to distrust your husband.
c. You clearly are in denial of your true feelings about the break up of your marriage. You have never dealt
with the pain of your mother leaving when you were a little boy.
d. Some clinicians view depression as anger turned inwards. Could it be that your depression reflects anger
that you have toward yourself?
10. Times when interpretation may be especially useful include all of the following except when
a. treatment has reached an impasse
b. clients continue to repeat the same harmful patterns and behaviors
c. the client seems to be overreacting to an event or interaction
d. the client seems especially vulnerable and it is the first session
11. Regarding effective delivery, interpretations should
a. Focus on the present and possible current explanations before moving to the past
b. Be combined with empathic interventions to provide support and encouragement and reduce any threat
presented by the interpretations.
c. Be used sparingly.
d. all of the above
12. The term context applies to
a. the circumstances of people’s lives when they seek treatment
b. client’s ethnic, cultural, or spiritual origins
c. client’s worldview
d. all of the above
13. Clinicians will have success in improving their multicultural awareness and competencies if they can do all of
the following except
a. Be aware of their own heritage and background and the effects they have on them, their interactions with
others, and their work as mental health professionals.
b. Not make an effort to learn about or participate in cultures that differ from their own.
c. Focus on the strengths and contributions of diversity.
d. Remain curious, interested, and surprised.
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14. Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis (1992) identify three important dimensions of a culturally skilled clinician
a. beliefs, knowledge and skills, self-awareness
b. beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and skills
c. attitudes, knowledge and skills, self-awareness
d. attitudes, self-awareness, personal limitations
15. Arredondo et al (2005) suggest that clinicians pay attention to three clusters of variables with respect to the
effects that they have had on the client. The three clusters include all of the following except
a. Age; gender; race, culture, language, and ethnicity; physical and mental abilities; sexual orientation; and
social class.
b. Education; career development and military experiences; relationship status and experiences; health habits
and beliefs; and interests and leisure activities.
c. self-awareness, other-awareness
d. Social, political, historical context
Short Answer/Essay Questions
1. List and provide an example of the eight elements in the context of seeking treatment. Discuss why obtaining
information on these elements is important to the treatment process.
2. Discuss the process of becoming a culturally skilled clinician.
3. Apply multicultural counseling competencies to the treatment process utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy.
4. In terms of purpose and delivery, list and describe the characteristics of effective interpretations.
5. List and give examples of 3 formats for the effective delivery of interpretation
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Chapter 2
Answers
Multiple Choice Questions
1. c
2. c
3. a
4. c
5. d
6. d
7. b
8. b
9. c
10. d
11. d
12. d
13. b
14. b
15. c
Short Answer/Essay Questions
1. List and provide an example of the eight elements in the context of seeking treatment. Discuss why obtaining
information on these elements is important to the treatment process.
Demographic characteristics of the client:
May be limited to demographic information and a first impression that provides some knowledge of
gender, age, ethnic/cultural background, and appearance.
Paperwork completed by the client may provide additional information on such matters as presenting
concerns, family composition, place of residence, and medical history.
Source of referral:
How did the client learn of the clinician and/or the agency?
How and what a client is told about a clinician or agency when given a referral is likely to affect the
client’s expectations, motivation, and attitude toward treatment.
Choice of clinician:
Did the client take time to learn about the clinician’s credentials or to talk to several clinicians before
making an appointment?
Or did the client make a choice based on limited information, perhaps because of participation in a
managed care program, the need for a reduced fee, confidence in the referral source, lack of interest in
investing time in finding a suitable clinician, or another reason?
Treatment facility:
Sometimes the client’s choice of a treatment program or clinician provides information about that
client’s treatment preferences.
The client’s choice of both clinician and treatment facility typically provide useful information about
that client.
Precipitant for seeking services:
What led the client to seek treatment at this particular time?
Had considerable thought and planning preceded the contact, or was it made impulsively or under
pressure, perhaps in response to a heated argument, a disappointing experience, or a threatened failure?
Motivation:
What is the source of the client’s motivation for seeking treatment at the present time?
Is the motivation instrinsic or extrinsic?
Presenting problem(s):
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The initial reason the client gives for seeking treatment
The presenting problem may turn out to be the client’s most important concern, or it may be only the
first step toward identifying more urgent or fundamental difficulties.
Strengths and assets:
From their initial contact with a client, clinicians should be alert to the presence of strengths and assets
that they can help develop further and access in treatment.
Examples of such strengths include intelligence, curiosity, verbal abilities, self-care, sense of style,
organizational skills, and support systems.
2. Discuss the process of becoming a culturally skilled clinician
Attending to the social, political, and cultural contexts and multicultural variables that affect your clients
Attending to the social, political, and cultural contexts and multicultural variables that affect you
It entails careful treatment planning that matches treatment approaches and interventions to the
clinician’s understanding of the client’s cultural context and worldview.
It involves going beyond a multicultural focus and obtaining a full and in-depth understanding of
clients.
3. Apply multicultural counseling competencies to the treatment process utilizing Bloom’s taxonomy.
Content: What multicultural variables characterize the client’s background as well as their present life?
Process:
Comprehension: What implications have these variables had for the client?
Organization: What are the central themes or topics that characterize the impact the client’s social,
political, economic and cultural background has had on her/him?
Analysis and Synthesis: What meaning do these central themes have for the client now? What does
her/his worldview seem to be like?
Interpretation: How have the dynamics and development of the client’s joys and difficulties been
shaped by multicultural factors in her/his background as well as in her/his present life?
Application: What are the treatment implications of this analysis and interpretation?
Evaluation: To what extent and in what ways has treatment helped the client to understand the impact
of multicultural factors on her/his own worldview and development? How has that understanding been
reflected in changes in the client’s emotions, thoughts, and actions?
4. In terms of purpose and delivery, list and describe the characteristics of effective interpretations.
Purposei.Be presented with a clear and relevant purpose in mind
ii.Be designed to help people resolve their presenting concerns
iii.Help people make sense of their emotions, thoughts, and actions
iv.Promote awareness of patterns and connections
v.Encourage a greater sense of self-control and direction
vi.Facilitate change, not just promote insight
Delivery-
Focus on the present and possible current explanations before moving to the past.
Be combined with empathic interventions to provide support and encouragement and reduce any threat
presented by the interpretations.
Be used sparingly.
Be carefully timed so that the client is receptive rather than resistant.
Be elicited from the client as much as possible.
Be gently suggested, not forced; insights should not be rushed.
Always be checked out with clients; clinicians should give them the opportunity to react to, modify,
accept, or reject the interpretation.
Be revisited and explored as appropriate to ensure that they are meaningful and useful to clients.
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5. List and give an example of 3 formats for the effective delivery of interpretation (any of the following are
acceptable)
Hunches: “I have a hunch that you enjoy all the attention you receive when you are sick and can’t go to
school. Maybe that makes it hard for you to get well. What do you think about that?”
Noting themes: “I’ve noticed a theme of men mistreating you that keeps coming up in our conversations.
You’ve talked about your father’s verbal abuse, your math teacher’s criticism of your work, your
physician’s lack of caring when you are in pain, your supervisor’s failure to praise your work, and several
of your boyfriends who seemed neglectful. What do you make of that pattern?”
Noting connections: “Your strong reaction to your teacher’s inability to attend your recital reminds me of
the feelings you had as a child when your parents separated and your father stopped coming to your soccer
games. I wonder if you see any connection there.”
Noting discrepancies and differences: “You have had many disappointing relationships with family and
friends. It strikes me that this relationship seems to be different for you, perhaps because you have more
control now. What is your reaction to that?”
Reframing: “You have described yourself as a ‘hopeless workaholic’ but you derive great satisfaction from
your work. Perhaps you are really actualizing your potential.”
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