Loreto R. Prieto

Chicanas/os and Mental Health Services An Overview of Utilization, Counselor Preference, and Assessment Issues

This article reviews recent literature pertaining to Chicanas/os’ utilization of conventional mental health services, their counselor preferences, and the psychological testing and assessment of Chicanas/os. Chicanas/os likely underutilize mental health services, instead preferring family or nontraditional helpers for assistance. However, both Chicanas/os’ level of identification with their indigenous culture as well as their level of acculturation to the majority culture appear to affect their use of services and counselor preferences. Despite longstanding concerns ranging from language barriers to clinician bias in interpreting test results, the literature continues to lack validation studies that specifically support the use of many major psychological tests with Chicanas/os. Unfortunately, these instruments continue to be routinely used clinically to assess Chicana/o clientele, even though the literature cautions that these instruments may generate an inaccurate picture of Chicanas/os’ psychological functioning. Recommendations for counseling practice and future research concerning Chicanas/os are offered.

Training in the Teaching of Psychology: What Is Done and Examining the Differences.

Psychologists have highlighted the need to prepare psychology graduate students for their current and future teaching responsibilities; however, the amount of preparation that they actually receive remains unclear. This investigation assessed teaching assistant (TA) training from the perspective of both psychology TAs and department chairs, noting points of convergence and divergence. We present national survey data that describe the nature of TA training in departments of psychology and specific training methods used. In addition to summarizing descriptive data, we explored factors associated with the amount and kinds of training offered to psychology graduate students.

Current Directions in Chicana/o Psychology:

In this Major Contribution, we focus on the mental and psychological health issues relevant to Mexican Americans or Chicanas/os, and we identify and introduce some important contemporary areas of research that reflect the unifying theme of Current Directions in Chicana/o Psychology. These areas include counseling, assessment, and service-delivery issues; the content and influence of stereotypes; and the role of ethnic identity in the psychological health of Chicana/o people. To provide an ecological context for the series of articles that follow, identifying labels/terminology, demographics, cultural characteristics, and political barriers descriptive of Chicanas/os are addressed. Our hope is that the series of articles composing this issue serves to raise the awareness of mental health professionals about issues facing Chicanas/os and to provide guidelines for future counseling intervention and research.

Diversity Research in Teaching of Psychology: Summary and Recommendations

We reviewed the body of published research in the journal Teaching of Psychology (ToP) concerning diversity issues (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status). Between 1974 and 2002, approximately 7 of articles published in ToP substantively dealt with diversity issues, with gender issues being the most frequent topic. ToP publications concerning diversity issues have increased across time, especially recently, with the 1999 and 2001 volumes having the highest number of articles. Most of these diversity articles were conceptual in nature rather than empirical studies. The 33 empirical studies published in ToP concerning diversity were largely descriptive, exploratory, and atheoretical. We offer an agenda and recommendations for future research and submissions to ToP focusing on diversity issues.

Teaching assistant training in counseling psychology

We surveyed training directors and counseling psychology graduate teaching assistants at Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs to acquire information concerning Teaching Assistant (TA) training, supervision and teaching experiences, and the extent to which TAs believe their training and supervision helped them to feel competent in their teaching duties. TAs were most satisfied with those training methods related directly to the practice of teaching (e.g., role playing and receiving feedback on practice teaching). Implications for training counseling psychologists as educators are discussed.

Dealing With Diversity Issues in the Classroom: A Survey of the STP Membership

We examined how psychology educators regarded and addressed diversity issues in their classrooms. The approximately 650 psychology educators who took part in this survey indicated a high level of personal acceptance of diverse persons and acknowledged the importance of infusing diversity issues into courses across the psychology curriculum. Our findings indicated that the level of importance instructors attached to incorporating diversity issues into their course work accounted for the largest amount of variance in the time they reported discussing diversity issues in their classes. We discuss implications for teachers of psychology.

Models and Exemplars of Scholarship in the Teaching of Psychology

This article provides ideas for engaging in the scholarship of teaching in psychology. Topics covered include contributing to the Society for the Teaching of Psychologys Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology and Teaching of Psychology. Writing and editing books also constitute scholarly work. Finally, teaching with intentionality and accountability can be productive in leading to scholarship opportunities. By providing models and exemplars of scholarship in the teaching of psychology, we hope to encourage more teachers to engage in such activities.

American Indian college student suicide: risk, beliefs, and help-seeking preferences

We examined American Indian students’ suicidality, their awareness of tribal beliefs concerning suicide, and the likelihood of them seeking help, if suicidal, from a variety of sources. The rate of suicidal ideation among students in our sample was comparable to the general college student population. Only 10% of sample was aware of traditional tribal suicide beliefs. Respondents who were committed to tribal culture were more likely to prefer counseling from American Indian persons.

The Archives of the History of American Psychology: An Interview with David B. Baker

Loreto R. Prieto is an assistant professor of Counseling Psychology at The University of Akron. Active in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP), Prieto currently serves as the Chair of the Task Force on Diversity, recently completed a term on the Long Range Planning Committee, and has served on several other working groups and committees associated with STP. He was the Chair of the Working Group on Diversity for the American Psychological Association Psychology Partnerships Project. David B. Baker is the Director of the Archives of the History of American Psychology and an associate professor of Psychology at The University of Akron. A counseling psychologist by training, he received his PhD from Texas A & M University in 1988. He has written on the history of school and counseling psychology. He coauthored and coedited with Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., a special section of the American Psychologist in February 2000 that examined the 50th anniversary of the Conference on Graduate Education in Clinical Psychology (more commonly known as the “Boulder Conference”). Baker has a long-standing interest in the rise of professional psychology in America and is coauthor with Benjamin of a forthcoming book on that subject that will be published by Harcourt Brace.

Incorporating Diversity Content Into Courses and Concerns About Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

I examined concerns surrounding teaching culturally diverse students and attitudes toward incorporating diversity content into courses, held by a national sample of psychology educators (N = 91). Findings indicated that as instructors’ personal acceptance of culturally diverse students increased, instructors’ level of “backlash” attitudes toward those students decreased, and instructors attached a greater level of importance to incorporating diversity issues into their course content. Lower levels of instructor concern surrounding managing cultural differences in the classroom was associated with instructors attaching a greater level of importance to incorporating diversity issues into course content. Instructors of color spent a significantly greater amount of class time teaching about diversity issues in their psychology courses than their European American counterparts. I discuss implications of these findings for established and future psychology educators.