LPC Social and Cultural Diversity 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor refuses to work with a client whose values around gender roles conflict with the counselor's personal beliefs. According to the ACA Code of Ethics, the counselor should:
- Immediately terminate services and refer
- Only refer when the referral is not based on the counselor's personal values alone (Correct answer)
- Always accommodate the client regardless of competence concerns
- File a complaint about the client with the licensing board
Correct answer: Only refer when the referral is not based on the counselor's personal values alone
ACA guidelines specify that counselors cannot refer solely based on personal values; referrals must be based on clinical or competence considerations, not discrimination.
Question 2: The 'minority stress model' developed by Meyer explains that LGBTQ+ individuals experience higher rates of mental health problems primarily due to:
- Inherent psychological vulnerabilities associated with sexual minority status
- Chronic stress arising from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination (Correct answer)
- Lack of access to appropriate mental health services
- Genetic predisposition toward mood disorders
Correct answer: Chronic stress arising from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination
Meyer's minority stress model attributes elevated mental health challenges in LGBTQ+ populations to external, socially-based stressors like stigma, discrimination, and internalized homophobia.
Question 3: When working with an older adult client, a culturally competent LPC should be aware that ageism may manifest as:
- Overestimating the client's need for autonomy
- Dismissing the client's concerns as normal aging rather than treatable conditions (Correct answer)
- Providing too many community resources
- Focusing excessively on the client's mental health history
Correct answer: Dismissing the client's concerns as normal aging rather than treatable conditions
Ageism in counseling can lead to under-diagnosis and under-treatment when clinicians attribute psychological symptoms to normal aging rather than treatable disorders.
Question 4: A client with a disability expresses frustration that society views them as limited by their condition. This perspective aligns most closely with:
- The medical model of disability
- The social model of disability (Correct answer)
- The biopsychosocial model
- The rehabilitation model
Correct answer: The social model of disability
The social model of disability holds that barriers are created by societal structures and attitudes rather than by the individual's impairment itself.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of institutional racism?
- A person making racially biased comments to a colleague
- Lending policies that systematically deny mortgages to applicants in predominantly minority neighborhoods (Correct answer)
- An individual's unconscious racial stereotypes
- Cultural differences in communication styles
Correct answer: Lending policies that systematically deny mortgages to applicants in predominantly minority neighborhoods
Institutional racism refers to policies and practices within organizations and systems that produce racially inequitable outcomes, regardless of individual intent.
Question 6: When assessing a client from a culture where somatic complaints are the primary expression of psychological distress, the LPC should:
- Refer the client to a physician before beginning counseling
- Recognize somatization as a culturally accepted idiom of distress and explore it therapeutically (Correct answer)
- Psychoeducate the client that physical symptoms are 'in their head'
- Diagnose the client with somatic symptom disorder immediately
Correct answer: Recognize somatization as a culturally accepted idiom of distress and explore it therapeutically
In many cultures, psychological distress is expressed somatically, and culturally competent counselors recognize this as a culturally valid idiom rather than pathologizing it.
Question 7: The concept of 'cultural humility,' as distinguished from cultural competence, emphasizes:
- Mastery of specific facts about different cultural groups
- An ongoing self-reflective process of examining one's own biases and power dynamics with clients (Correct answer)
- Completing multicultural training requirements for licensure
- Matching intervention techniques to specific cultural practices
Correct answer: An ongoing self-reflective process of examining one's own biases and power dynamics with clients
Cultural humility, coined by Tervalon and Murray-García, is a lifelong commitment to self-reflection and redressing power imbalances, rather than achieving cultural 'expertise.'
LPC Social and Cultural Diversity 5
A counselor refuses to work with a client whose values around gender roles conflict with the counselor's personal beliefs.
According to the ACA Code of Ethics, the counselor should: