Sanman said:
I can't really get into a specific hierarchy of how to pick individuals because every case will be different I might suggest taking a minority student interested in working with urban, low income, minority individuals over another student.
To play the devil's advocate to this suggestion I would have to say, don't you think that is kind of racist? Essentially what this suggests is that your would be picking candidates based on the color of their skin. So that begs the question, why would anyone want to pick candidates based on the color of their skin, or any other silly atrbute? But that question leads us into your next points.....
My point was that by nit mking diversity a concern, individuals who may be uncomfortable discussing issues with someone who may not relate as well and by not training a diverse group of individuals, you are limiting their choice of providers to ONLY the group that cannot relate as well or that the client is not comfortable with. These are barriers that may stop some individuals from seeking needed treatment.
I think that this is another dangerous assumption, that one must be of the same color, gender, or life situation to relate to the patient. If the patient feels that way to the extent that they will not seek treatment, they have a problem, I agree. Mental health "clients" will come up with any number of reasons not to seek treatment, or to avoid particular practitioners, many of them are bogus. I think we need to strive to get over the superficial differences that we assume would make it difficult for two people to relate.
Well from my understanding of research into this area (and, no, I am not going to produce specific studies; I have better things to do) minority individuals and even those from the affirmative action era are more likely to go into these much needed areas then other individuals. Will all of them? No. Is it a perfect system? No. I am simply suggesting that as a professional body we need to make an effort. Your suggestions are definitely correct for research based programs.
I think we do need to make an effort to dispel problems such as discrimination. And research probably shows that red, green, purple, & yellow patients feel more comfortable and get better treatment from practitioners of their respective colors. But that is the problem, not that there isn't a certain amount of this or that gender or color.
The APA has required that all clinical students take at least one course in multicultural issues, which I think is probably a good thing, it makes sense from a practitioners standpoint. I think what we need to worry about is the way doctors interact with patients, regardless of race, creed, gender, or religion. That is what matters. The rest is just politics.
But returning to other political issues, psisci you might have an answer for this, what if there are political issues that would have a large effect in the way we practice or research? Should we stay out of the fray?