Clinical significance of cross-cultural competencies (CCC) in social work practice

Abstract

Although culturally competent practice is ethically sound and sociopolitically valued, the ways in which cultural competencies affect clients' change processes have been little explored in either clinical or cultural literatures. With few theoretical guidelines, social workers in their daily practice are faced with significant challenges to integrate both clinically grounded and culturally competent practice in fostering clients' changes. This article proposes a theoretical integration of clinically significant cultural practice in social work. Drawing from the therapeutic alliance research, this article proposes relationally focused cultural competencies to promote the construct of cross-cultural competencies (CCC). CCC has three roles that can promote changes in clinical social work practice. It can (1) mediate the working alliance; (2) serve as a pathway to a client's internal working model of self and other; and (3) provide corrective emotional experience. The implications for cross-cultural psychotherapy practice, training, and research are also discussed.

Keywords:

• cross-cultural competencies (CCC)
• alliance
• roles of CCC in clinical social work practice
• internal working model of self and other (IWM)
• corrective emotional experience

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the Fahs-Beck New York Trust Fund Experimental Research Dissertation Grant and the Smith College Roger Miller Dissertation Grant for research funding support. I also greatly appreciate Drs Adam Horvath, Kathryn Basham, Joyce Everett, and A. Ka Tat Tsang for their helpful comments and support on earlier versions of this paper. Some of the ideas in this paper were presented at the 37th International Conference of the Society for Psychotherapy Research in Edinburgh, Scotland.