Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training,
Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists
American Psychological Association
Approved as APA Policy by the APA Council of Representatives, August, 2002
Historical and Sociopolitical Developments for Guidelines
There are a number of national events, APA–specific developments, and
initiatives of other related professional associations that provide an historical context for
the development of multicultural and culture–specific guidelines, with a focus on
racial/ethnic minority groups. Nationally, in 1954, the Supreme Court struck down the
"separate but equal" doctrine of segregated education. Benjamin and Crouse (2002) note
that in addition to setting the stage for greater social equity in education, Brown vs Board
of Education was an important turning point for psychology, because it was the "first
time that psychological research was cited in a Supreme Court decision" (p. 38). A decade later, the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act set the stage for sociopolitical
movements and the development of additional legislation to protect individual and group
rights at national, state, and local levels. These movements and resulting legislation have
specifically addressed the rights of equity and access based on gender, age, disability,
national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and of course, ethnicity and race. However,
it is also important to note that movements to dismantle Affirmative Action in California,
Michigan, and Texas, are sociopolitical efforts that threaten the advancement of the rights
of individuals and groups historically marginalized.
National issues regarding healthcare and mental health disparities for ethnic/racial
minority groups culminated in psychologists playing a role in President Clinton's
dialogue in the mid 1990's about race and racism, and in the U.S. Surgeon General's
Reports in 2000 and 2001. The national debates also led to noteworthy organizational
structural changes. For example the National Institute of Mental Health established an
office in Minority Research in 1971, and reorganized to incorporate ethnic minority
focused research in all areas in 1985, including justifications for diversity of research
populations. Findings from this funded research have been instrumental in setting
policies specific to racial/ethnic minority groups.
Psychologists' perspective of the role of race in education has been addressed for
nearly a century (a historical perspective is provided by Suzuki & Valencia, 1997).
Indeed the construct of race, culture, and intergroup relationships have been areas of
research for psychologists since nearly the beginning of psychology, including Clark &
Clark (1940), Allport (1954), and Lewin (1945) (see Duckitt, 1992, for a historical
review).
Within the profession of psychology, attention to culture as a variable in clinical
practice was first mentioned at the Vail Conference of 1973 (Korman, 1974). One of the
recommendations from this conference was to include training in cultural diversity in all
doctoral programs and through continuing education workshops. Attention to appropriate
training based on multicultural and culture–specific constructs and contexts continued
through the next two decades. The APA Committee on Accreditation's "Accreditation
Domains and Standards" included cultural diversity as a component of effective training
in 1986 and continuing to the 2002 guidelines (APA, 2002). These efforts recognize the
importance of cultural and individual differences and diversity in the training of clinical,
counseling, and school psychologists. Subsequently, the training councils of these
disciplines began to incorporate cultural diversity into their model programs, including
the Council of Counseling Psychology's model training program in counseling
psychology (Murdock, Alcorn, Heesacker, & Stoltenberg, 1998), and Standards of the
National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology (Peng & Nisbett,
1999).
Concomitantly, changes to reflect greater attention to cultural diversity were occurring
through structural and functional changes within the APA organization. The Office of
Ethnic Minority Affairs (OEMA) was established in 1979. A year later the Board of
Ethnic Minority Affairs (BEMA) was established. BEMA was charged with promoting
the scientific underpinning of the influence and impact of culture, race, and ethnicity on
individuals' behavior, as well as advancing the participation of ethnic minority
psychologists within the organization. BEMA established a Task Force on Minority
Education and Training in 1981, and a second Task Force on Communication with
Minority Constituents was formed in 1984. In 1990, the Board for the Advancement of
Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI) was formed, as was the Committee on Ethnic
Minority Affairs (CEMA). These entities replaced BEMA within APA's governance
structure. The Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training
was formed in 1994, and published a report and 5–year plan to increase the number of
students in psychology. These multiple efforts of APA and the Divisions began to
culminate in the production of policy. The General Guidelines for Providers of
Psychological Services were "developed with the understanding that psychological
services must be planned and implemented so that they are sensitive to factors related to
life in a pluralistic society such as age, gender, affectional orientation, culture and
ethnicity" (APA, 1987).
In 1990, APA published the Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to
Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations (APA, 1990). Following this, the
1992 revision of the Ethics code included Principle D: Respect of People's Rights and
Dignity, which states in part, "Psychologists are aware of cultural, individual, and role
differences, including those related to age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, É" (p.
1598). The Ethics code also contains ethical standards related to cultural diversity related
to competence (1.08), assessment (2.04), and research (6.07 and 6.11).
The current Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice,
and Organizational Change have developed as a result of the sociopolitical environment
within the United States and the resulting work of psychologists within the professional
organization. While there have been a variety of organizational initiatives that have
focused on race and ethnicity, these Guidelines are the first to address the implications of
race and ethnicity in psychological education, training, research, practice and
organizational change. These Guidelines are the latest step in an on–going effort to
provide psychologists in the United States with a framework for services to an
increasingly diverse population and to assist psychologists in the provision of those
services. In effect, there is a societal and guild/organizational history steadily indicating
a rationale for attending to a multicultural and culture–specific agenda more formally.
