common bias, three types of racial microaggressions, impacts of acculturative stress on Latino clients, and suggestions to solve acculturative stress

 common bias, three types of racial microaggressions, impacts of acculturative stress on Latino clients, and suggestions to solve acculturative stress

The world has so many diverse cultures that pose a challenge to organizations and institutions across the globe when it comes to service delivery. For efficient service delivery and avoidance of bias, as in Jeff’s case, stakeholders need to be aware of diversity and multiculturalism when meeting human demands. The essay describes some possible common bias, three types of racial microaggressions, impacts of acculturative stress on Latino clients, and suggestions to solve acculturative stress.

The first dominant possible bias in the treatment of mental illness from Jeff’s case is the normative beliefs that the therapists hold against Latino patients. Bias is most cases take place when medical staff holds individual perceptions regarding their patients. These formed opinions, in most cases, are biased and do not have evidence or facts. In Jeff’s case, the therapists seem to hold formed opinions against Latinos because Jeff overheard one of them, claiming that she usually uses a specific method of diagnosis. She also claims that the patients do not often get better and more so they do not participate in therapy. The statements show that the therapists seem to have formed opinions against the Latinos that even if they are treated, they cannot get well, and also they do not like therapy. The therapists’ move to diagnose the majority of Hispanic patients using one seemingly predetermined method is also a manifestation of normative beliefs. Another way bias occurs when the community members and authorities develop intolerance against minority groups. In Jeff’s case, the authorities seem biased because the agency Jeff works for often receives Latino patients who are directed there by courts. Latinos are a minority group, therefore, sending them to undergo mental treatment in a specific agency seems biased.

The first form of racial microaggressions is microassault. It is a clear racial derogation where a person is verbally or nonverbally attacked to inflict pain on them. It is done by calling them names, avoiding them, or showing them discriminatory acts. In Jeff’s case, this contributes to bias because he hears the therapists making derogatory comments about the Latinos. These negative comments are likely to influence the quality of services the therapists offer their Latino patients. To do away with this form of microaggression, the staff at the agency should be diversified to include more Latino therapists. The second is microinsult, which involves communication conveying insensitivity and rudeness meant to demean an individual’s racial orientation. The third form of microaggression is microinvalidation. It includes communications that nullify, negate, or exclude the achievements or experiential reality of the discriminated person.an example is when a person of color talks English fluently, and they are asked if they were born to discredit their fluency in speech. All these issues can be done away with increasing the number of Latino staff in the agency and sending some Latino patients to other health facilities.

The first impact of acculturative stress that can occur in Jeff’s case is psychological destabilization. Acculturative stress in Jeff’s case can easily make the people with a mental health condition have more mental issues than when they were referred there. Acculturative stress can have detrimental impacts on the psychological state of a person, and given the people undergoing stress are those already with mental issues. The stress can have grave effects on the psychology of the patients. The other impact is patients may not recover from their psychological problems. The patients that are referred to the agency with mental proble4ms may not be able to recover because their state will only deteriorate as a result of acculturative stress. Psychiatric patients often require a lot of care to improve, but in the agency that Jeff works in the therapist mistreat their patients a move that risks the patients not recovering.

The essay suggests that Jeff’s agency balances the number of staff between whites and Latinos or other minority groups. One of the issues that cultivate bias in the agency is the unbalanced nature of the staff, whereby the majority of the staff are white and only a handful of Latinos. The agency deals with Latinos much than any other group, so it is wise to increases the number of Latino therapists and staff in the agency. Jeff usually overhears the white staff making negative comments about Latino patients. The problem is created by having a white-dominant staff handling Latino dominated patients a scenario that creates a clash of interests hence bias. Secondly, the agency should train its staff on the benefits of cultural diversity. The team in the agency seems intolerant to cultural diversity, something that can best be handled by creating awareness.

In conclusion, this essay describes some possible common bias, three types of racial microaggressions, impacts of acculturative stress on Latino clients, and suggestions to solve acculturative stress. The first potential bias in the treatment of mental illness from Jeff’s case is the normative beliefs and intolerance of community members and authorities. The three forms of microaggression are microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation.