MC Master of Counseling: Cultural Awareness and Diversity 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In the ADDRESSING framework, the acronym refers to dimensions that include all of the following EXCEPT:
- Age and generational influences
- Developmental or acquired disabilities
- Socioeconomic status
- Astrological beliefs (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Astrological beliefs
The ADDRESSING framework covers Age, Developmental disability, Religion, Ethnicity, Social status, Sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, National origin, and Gender — not astrological beliefs.
Question 2: A counselor working with LGBTQ+ clients should avoid:
- Affirming the client's self-identified sexual orientation
- Assuming that the client's presenting problem is related to their sexual orientation (Correct answer)
- Using the client's preferred pronouns
- Exploring how cultural identity intersects with sexuality
Correct answer: Assuming that the client's presenting problem is related to their sexual orientation
Assuming that a client's struggles are caused by their LGBTQ+ identity pathologizes that identity and reflects heterosexist bias.
Question 3: The term 'intersectionality,' introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is most relevant to counseling because it highlights:
- The overlap between cognitive and behavioral treatment approaches
- How multiple social identities interact to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression (Correct answer)
- The intersection of DSM diagnoses in comorbid presentations
- Cross-cultural similarities in symptom expression
Correct answer: How multiple social identities interact to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression
Intersectionality recognizes that race, gender, class, sexuality, and other identities interact simultaneously, creating overlapping systems of advantage and disadvantage.
Question 4: A counselor working with a client who holds strong religious beliefs should:
- Challenge beliefs that seem to conflict with secular therapeutic values
- Integrate the client's spiritual framework as a potential resource in therapy when appropriate (Correct answer)
- Maintain strict separation between spirituality and mental health treatment
- Refer all religious clients to pastoral counselors only
Correct answer: Integrate the client's spiritual framework as a potential resource in therapy when appropriate
Culturally competent counselors recognize spirituality and religion as important dimensions of many clients' identities that can serve as resilience resources.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes the concept of 'stereotype threat' and its clinical relevance?
- The risk that a counselor will apply stereotypes during intake assessments
- The anxiety minority individuals experience when at risk of confirming a negative group stereotype (Correct answer)
- Threats made by clients based on racial assumptions about the counselor
- The danger of over-generalizing cultural knowledge to individual clients
Correct answer: The anxiety minority individuals experience when at risk of confirming a negative group stereotype
Stereotype threat, identified by Steele and Aronson, describes how fear of confirming negative stereotypes impairs performance and increases psychological distress in minority individuals.
Question 6: When working with clients from cultures where indirect communication is the norm, a counselor should:
- Insist on direct and explicit discussion of problems to make therapy effective
- Adapt communication style to honor the client's cultural preference for indirectness (Correct answer)
- Interpret indirect communication as resistance
- Document indirectness as a possible symptom of avoidant personality
Correct answer: Adapt communication style to honor the client's cultural preference for indirectness
Many cultures use indirect communication as a respectful and normative style; adapting to this style honors the client's cultural values and strengthens the alliance.
Question 7: A counselor in supervision reveals discomfort working with clients who hold traditional gender roles. The supervisor should FIRST:
- Reassign those clients to another counselor immediately
- Encourage the counselor to explore and reflect on the source of their discomfort (Correct answer)
- Advise the counselor to avoid disclosing these feelings
- Report the counselor for potential ethical violations
Correct answer: Encourage the counselor to explore and reflect on the source of their discomfort
Supervision is an appropriate and expected space for counselors to explore countertransference and cultural biases, and reflective exploration is the recommended first step.
MC Master of Counseling: Cultural Awareness and Diversity 5
In the ADDRESSING framework, the acronym refers to dimensions that include all of the following EXCEPT: