Description
In this unit you explored five different cultural groups and the need for cultural competence. As was discussed by Zunker, we must understand our own assumptions, values, and biases, as well as the world view of others; and then develop appropriate strategies and interventions. The goal of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of cultural competence, your limitations as they relate to career counseling, and your plan to develop the needed skills.
For this assignment, choose a cultural group of which you are not a member and create a persona for a fictitious member of that group. Address the following elements in your assignment:
- Describe a fictitious persona from your chosen cultural group, that you will use as your client or student. For example, if you are an African-American male you may choose to write about a person who identifies as female, Navajo American Indian, married with five children, living on a reservation, forty years old with a high school education.
- Analyze how societal norms such as gender, age, culture, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics may have influenced your client's career development. You need to select a minimum of three characteristics or diversity issues. How might these factors impact the person's relationships with others and life roles? What strategies would you use?
- Assess how biases and assumptions can impact the career counseling process both from your perspective as the counselor and from the perspective of the client or student.
- Self-assess your own biases and describe how you will work to decrease these biases when working with diverse populations.
Your assignment should be 4–5 pages in length, include at least three references, and follow APA style and format. Review the Diversity Issues in Career Counseling Scoring Guide to understand the grading criteria for this assignment.
Use the Capella University Library to read the following:
- Lee, C. C. (2012). A conceptual framework for culturally competent career counseling practice. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal, 28(1), 7–14.
- Pässler, K., Beinicke, A., & Hell, B. (2014). Gender-related differential validity and differential prediction in interest inventories. Journal of Career Assessment, 22(1), 138–152.
RESEARCH
Choose ONE of the following articles to read or search the Capella Library for a career counseling article related to a culture different from your culture or ethnicity. You will use this article in your assignment in this unit.
- Chronister, K. M., Harley, E., Aranda, C. L., Barr, L., & Luginbuhl, P. (2012). Community-based career counseling for women survivors of intimate partner violence: A collaborative partnership. Journal of Career Development, 39(6), 515–539.
- Flynn, S. V., Duncan, K. J., & Evenson, L. L. (2013). An emergent phenomenon of American Indian secondary students' career development process.Career Development Quarterly, 61(2), 124–140.
- Moakler, M. W., & Kim, M. M. (2014). College major choice in STEM: Revisiting confidence and demographic factors. Career Development Quarterly, 62(2), 128–142.
- Tovar-Murray, D., Jenifer, E. S., Andrusyk, J., D'Angelo, R., & King, T. (2012). Racism-related stress and ethnic identity as determinants of African American college students' career aspirations. Career Development Quarterly, 60(3), 254–262.
- Yang, A. (2014). Themes in the career development of 1.5-generation Hmong American women. Journal of Career Development, 41(5), 402–425.
- Zalaquett, C., & Baez, J. (2012). Career counseling with Hispanics/Latinos/as. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 28(1), 57–71.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running Head: DIVERSITY ISSUES IN CAREER COUNSELING
Diversity Issues in Career Counseling
Name
Institutional Affiliation
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DIVERSITY ISSUES IN CAREER COUNSELING
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Description of a fictitious persona
Saanvi is an American Indian female, living with her parents in a bungalow at a suburb
place in Austin, Texas. She is the last born in a family of three children. At 20, she was in
university level pursuing a degree in medicine. Because of her cultural identity, she is
constrained by so many factors on how to relate and interact with other students in the campus.
As an Indian girl, there are a lot of norms, virtues, and beliefs that Saanvi must uphold to avoid
being referred as an outcast. She is very conservative and id afraid that people might think she is
isolating or discriminating against them. The societal expectations that she must comply prohibit
her from engaging in a fruitful relationship with students from other races and especially those
who are of the male gender (Pässler et al, 2014).
Analysis of how societal norms influenced Saanvi Career development
As a girl from an Indian background, there are gender issues that influenced her from
choosing and pursuing a particular career. Indian girls in general, especially back in India, are
expected to do homemaking, household duties, raise children, get married at age of 20, and have
little time for leisure. Since Indian girls concentrate so much on household duties, they have little
time to pursue their careers (Flynn et al, 2013). Getting married at a young age prohibits young
girls from advancing their careers. For girls and women, the society expects them to pursue
humanity courses because they are termed as easy. They have a lot of theoretical work where the
society believes that women are good at reading and cramming. The predetermined courses to
pursue hinder Indian girls to undertake other careers such as medicine. To Indian men, women
should stay at home, and take care of the family while men go out and work.
DIVERSITY ISSUES IN CAREER COUNSELING
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In socioeconomic perspectives, American Indians girls are expected by the society to
own little family properties, have little access to education, and engage in low income generating
activities. Saanvi is likely to be affected by the aforementioned issues (Pässler et al, 2014). From
the interaction I had with Saanvi, she said that she was physiological tortured by what people
expected from her. She is even considering dropping out of school because she finds it useless to
indulge in education because she believes it is not beneficial at the long-run. Despite her being a
bright student, her culture is prohibiting her from achieving her goals.
Age is also a factor that limits career development of Saanvi. At the age of 20, Indian
families expect their young girls to get married. The age limits for marriage is not favorable for
young girls to proceed with their education. Saanvi has to choose between getting married and
completing school. If she is swayed by her culture, she will not finish school. If she goes by what
she wants and decides to pursue it, she will become a good doctor and later on find a man to
marry and settle down.
A research conducted by US department of education indicates that majority of the
American Indian young girls' drop out of school because of marriage related issues (Flynn et al,
2013). For instance, many young girls are being forced to get married in order for them to obey
the norms. Saanvi is not exceptional. From the little interaction I had with her, in the recent past...
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