Week 2 Discussion

Diversity and Interview Approaches

Imagine what would happen if you sat down to interview someone to find you do not speak the same language. Using hand gestures, body language, and facial expressions, you might be able to glean some information, but your interview might not yield anything meaningful, and it likely would be frustrating for both you and the interviewee.

Clearly, the ability to speak and understand one another is critical for any interview to be successful. But to communicate effectively, an interviewer must also “speak” the culture. In today’s diverse world, it is important for individuals entering the human services field to have an appreciation for diversity that goes beyond race, geography, and ethnicity to encompass other types of diversity as well.

An interviewer must also be aware of his or her own biases and beliefs. A self-reflective and culturally competent interviewer is better able to understand and help the interviewee, and also enhances his or her own worldview and effectiveness.

In this Discussion, you will explore your own personal diversity-related characteristics and biases, and you will consider strategies for mitigating effects of bias on interviews you might conduct.

To prepare for this Discussion:  

• Review Chapter 3 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination. Consider how an interviewer’s personal biases could harm the assessment phase of a case. Focus on the sections titled “In More Depth: Forming Impressions of Others,” which examines snap and systematic judgments and cognitive distortions, and “Exercise 3, Careful Assessment,” which describes examples of personal bias and strategies for mitigating it.
• Review Chapter 4 in your course text, The Helping Process: Assessment to Termination. Focus on the section addressing the attitudes and characteristics of interviewers.
• Review the article titled “Ethnoracial Gap in Clinical Practice with Latinos.”
• Review the article titled, “Perception and Misperception of Bias in Human Judgment.”
• Review the article titled “Indicators for the Achievement of the NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice.”
• Review the article titled “Valuing Thoughts, Ignoring Behavior: The Introspection Illusion as a Source of the Bias Blind Spot.”
• Select three personal characteristics related to your background, culture, gender, race, or another aspect of diversity.
• Consider how, if you were the interviewer, an interviewee might react to the personal characteristics you selected.
• Consider how, if you were the interviewer, an interviewee might react to the personal characteristics you selected. 250 words or less

With these thoughts in mind:

• Post by Day 4 a brief description of the three diversity-related personal characteristics you selected. Explain some challenges these diversity-related characteristics might pose to you as an interviewer. Then explain how personal biases could impact the interviewing process. Finally, explain strategies a human services professional could employ to mitigate effects of bias.