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Clinical Psychology Diversity Mission Statement
The Clinical Program is committed to promoting awareness of, and respect for, cultural and individual diversity. It is our goal to train students to address issues of diversity in theory, research, and practice in clinical psychology. To achieve this goal, we integrate training on diversity issues throughout students’ learning experiences. In coursework, students complete an intensive core course devoted to diversity issues, and cover topic-specific material in all core clinical courses. In clinical training, students practice awareness of and response to diversity issues through clinical practica and individual supervision. In research, students consider diversity issues during study design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation. As a program and a community, we maintain an ongoing clinical colloquium series and an annual retreat that encourage active discussion and reflection on diversity issues in our division. Finally, as members of the academic community, we seek opportunities to advocate for attention to issues of diversity outside of our own division at the department, college, and university levels.
Clinical Psychology Diversity Committee
The clinical psychology diversity committee includes both graduate students and faculty who are committed to providing opportunities for addressing diversity and social justice in the division. This committee is actively involved in planning the colloquium series and plans an annual day-long diversity retreat. This committee meets regularly to consider ways to foster faculty and student growth in understanding issues related to diversity. This committee was instrumental in highlighting the need for a clinical course in Multicultural Psychology, which is now being offered. Other activities of members have included developing an overview for a diagnostic interview which sensitively assess important background information of clients, and sponsoring informal discussions on diversity-related topics.
Opportunities for Working with Diverse Populations
Amherst is located 30-45 minutes north of Holyoke and Springfield, Massachusetts which are very ethnically and socioeconomically diverse communities. 41% of Holyoke residents and 27% of Springfield residents identify themselves as Latino/a (predominantly Puerto Rican), and 21% of Springfield residents identify themselves as black or African-American. Amherst also has a smaller but sizeable ethnic minority population, including but not limited to Asian-American (9% of the population), African-American (5%), and Latino/a (6%) communities. Community agencies have been very open to helping faculty and students recruit research participants through their sites, which have resulted in a number of research projects, dissertations, and theses that have diverse samples. Many of our clinical practica sites provide services to diverse populations. Summaries of research and clinical opportunities are below:
Clinical Practica Opportunities:
Psychological Services Center (PSC)
The Psychological Services Center strives to increase access to mental health services to members of disadvantaged groups. By providing low-cost mental health services, the Psychological Services Center can be accessed by a wide range of community members. Additionally, our areas of specialty give opportunities for community members to identify areas of need and receive services tailored to those needs.
Amherst College Counseling Center
Clients are Amherst undergraduate students that hail from various backgrounds. The college enrolls students from nearly every state and from more than 40 countries, and for the past several years more than 35 percent of Amherst's students have been students of color.
Hampshire College Mental Health Services
Mental Health Services offers brief consultations, ongoing psychotherapy, and group therapy to the 1500 Hampshire students. Approximately 18% of Hampshire students are students of color and approximately 5% are international students. Hampshire students also represent diversity with regard to sexual orientation and gender (e.g., transgendered students).
Mt Holyoke College Counseling Services
Clients are high achieving women from a wide variety of backgrounds.The counseling center sees approximately 25% of the college body at some point during their 4 years. Twenty percent of Mount Holyoke students are international citizens, and 28 percent of domestic students identify as African American, Asian American, Latina, Native American, or multiracial. The Counseling Service provides individual and group therapy as well as consultation to parents and members of
the Mount Holyoke community who may have concerns about the mental health of students.
Carson Center for Development (CFD)
Clients are diagnosed with developmental disabilities and various psychiatric disorders. CFD provides the opportunity to work with both adults and children who are Puerto Rican, African American and Caucasian from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. Experiences include individual, family, and group therapy, evaluation and treatment planning, consultation with other service providers, and outreach in the community.
Cooley Dickinson Hospital
Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH) offers acute inpatient psychiatric treatment to the full spectrum of Western Massachusetts residents. The CDH inpatient unit serves a patient population that is diverse with regards to age, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and disability status. The unit also serves the chronically mentally ill, as well as individuals struggling with acute psychological problems. In addition to providing milieu and group therapy, practicum students gain exposure to systems of care that serve the poor, the homeless, and the chronically mentally ill, as well as those with greater access to resources and acute psychological problems.
Springfield/Holyoke Juvenile Court Clinic
Clients are juvenile offenders who have been referred for mental health assessments. The majority of cases are in the 12-17 year old range. Most clients are male and are Latino (primarily Puerto Rican) or Black and come from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. Many Latino parents of the client do not speak English. The number of females charged with crimes and/or referred to the court clinic is steadily increasing.
ServiceNet/Department of Mental Retardation
Clients are dually-diagnosed individuals with developmental disabilities and various psychiatric disorders and include both adults and children from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Experiences include both individual and family psychotherapy and assessment at a community outpatient clinic.
Sullivan & Associates
Sullivan & Associates provides residential and day services to individuals with a combination of intellectual, developmental, and significant psychiatric disabilities. The individuals they support range in age from 18 to over 70 and several are deaf or hard-of-hearing. S&A’s programs are located in the Greater Springfield, Greater Pittsfield, and Greater Worcester areas, giving practicum students access to a culturally and economically diverse range of clients. Students engage in a variety of professional psychology activities, including individual psychotherapy, group counseling and skills training, and psychological assessment. Students also have the opportunity to work with an agency clinician as a co-clinical case manager. This gives the students experience not only with clinical aspects of case management but exposure to the regulations and policies of our funding state agencies including the Department of Mental Retardation, the Department of Social Services, and the Department of Mental Health. S&A has an active clinical research team and encourages practicum students to participant in existing research projects or initiate their own.
Bay State Neuropsychological Testing Practicum
Neuropsychological testing is offered at an outpatient division of Bay State Medical Center. Patients range from young children to older adults and are referred for testing by doctors or psychotherapists. Presenting problems include ADHD and learning disabilities, psychological disorders (e.g., depression, pervasive developmental disorder), and physical insult from accidents or tumors, among others. You will learn to administer a broad neuropsychological testing battery and to write testing reports.
May Institute
The May Institute delivers services to developmentally disabled individuals with a range of disorders, levels of functioning and ages. The interventions they provide are strictly behavioral in orientation. There are some opportunities to get involved with research at this practicum - though that requires some initiative. As a practicum student, you can get involved with the May in one or more of the following programs.
Early Intervention: This program provides interventions to infants and toddlers who have been given diagnoses on the Autism spectrum. This program involves home visits.
School-based interventions: The May recently opened a school in W. Springfield for children with developmental disabilities. This is a great opportunity to do intensive work with children who have autism-related disorders (including Down's Syndrome and Retts), to learn how to manage a child's behavioral problems, and to learn about applied behavior analysis (i.e., the power of reinforcement).
Adult services: The May operates group homes throughout the Pioneer Valley (including one in Northampton and one in Hadley near Hampshire College) and provides day services for developmentally disabled adults. There are a range of levels of functioning and your involvement could range from training staff to implement a behavior plan, collecting and analyzing data on existing behavior plans and developing and modifying behavior plans/assessments on a wide range of topics from language acquisition to functional analyses of self-injurious behavior.
Griswold Center of Wing Memorial Hospital
Clients are low income individuals and families from rural areas surrounding Palmer, MA (18 miles southeast of Amherst). Clients present with a wide range of psychological difficulties, however financial difficulties are often pervasive. By accepting a broad range of Massachusetts insurances, Wing hospital is able to serve a wide variety of individuals, offering adolescent/child, family, and individual treatment, often coupled with coordination with prescribers.
Research Opportunities
Theses & dissertations conducted in the past 10 years that address different types of diversity including ethnicity, social class, and aging
Ethnicity & Social Class
Branch, A. (in progress). The Importance of Relationship Quality in Informal HIV Caregiving: A Dyadic Process. Dissertation.
Logan, J. (2010). The role of racial attitudes in clinical supervison. Dissertation.
Thakar, D. (2010). Mental health and acculturation trajectories of Indian international students prior to and during the first year of graduate school. Dissertation.
Brown, S, (2009). Adults Perceptions of Children's Relational and Physical Agression as a Function of Adult Ethnicity and Child Gender. Dissertation.
Claxton, A. (2008) Intersecting Contexts: An examination of Social Class, Gender, Race and Depressive Symptoms. Dissertation.
Ghandour, B. (2008) Differences Between European and Lebanese American's Values about Marriage. Dissertation.
Fischer, C. (2007). Parent-Centered Values Among Latino Immigrant Mothers. Dissertation.
Thakar, D. (2007). Parenting Style Discrepancies: A Comparison of Inter-Ethnic and Intra-Ethnic Couple. Master's thesis.
Dobbs, J. (2006). Family literacy and preschool children's social-emotional development in a head start population. Dissertation.
Rodriguez L. (2004). The cultural context of parenting. Master's thesis.
Simon, S. (2004). Accessibility of treatment for depression in a diverse sample of women. Dissertation.
Fisher, P. (2003) Early math interest and the development of math skills: an understudied relationship. Dissertation.
Greer, J. (2003). The relationship between cultural background and the experience of patients in primary care medical settings. Dissertation.
Beckford, S. (2003). Relations among psychosocial risk factors, coping behaviors, and depression symptoms in late adolescent West Indian girls. Dissertation.
Cheng, A. (2003) Narratives of second-generation Asian American experience: Legacies of immigration, trauma, and loss. Dissertation.
Dobbs, J. (2003). Attention in the preschool classroom: The relationships among child gender, child misbehavior, and types of teacher attention. Master's thesis.
Wong, F. (2003): The experience of Chinese American women with cultural stereotypes and parental expectations. Dissertation.
Aging
Lundquist, T. (in progress). Healthcare decision making in older adults. Master’s thesis.
Carvalho, J.O. (2008). Emotion and executive functioning: The effect of normal mood states on fluency tasks. Master’s thesis.
Akerstedt (2007) Do Age-Related Changes in Sleep Become Magnified in Individuals with Depressive Symptoms? Master’s thesis.
Publications and presentations that focus on diversity (past 5 years)
Social class and ethnicity
Ethnicity & Social Class
Lee, R. M. and the Minnesota International Adoption Project. (in press). Parental perceived discrimination as a post-adoption risk factor for internationally adopted children and adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Lee, R. M., Seol, K. O., Sung, M., Miller, M. J., and the Minnesota International Adoption Project. (2010). The behavioral development of Korean children in institutional care and international adoptive families. Developmental Psychology, 46, 468 - 478.
Perry-Jenkins, M. (2009). Making a difference for hourly workers: Considering work-life policies in social context. Chapter in A. Booth and A.C. Crouter (Eds.) Work-Life Policies That Make a Real Difference for Individuals, Families and Organizations. Urban Institute Press.
Harvey, E.A., Friedman, J., Miner, A., Bartolomei, R., Youngwirth, S. HAshim, B., & Arnold, D. H. (2009). The role of ethnicity in observers' ratings of mother-child behavior, Developmental Psychology.
Meagher, S. M., Arnold, D. H., Doctoroff, G. L., Dobbs, J., & Fisher, P. H. (2009). Preschool social-emotional problems and the development of depressive symptoms in school-age children. Early Education and Development, 20, 1-24.
Thakar, D. & Dadlani, M. (2008). Exploring ethnic identity from the start: Theropeutic challenges and strategies. Interactive workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Asian American Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Rao, M. & Thakar, D. (2008). Experiences of racism: Variations within South Asian communities. Interactive workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Asian American Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Perry-Jenkins, M., Smith, J. & Claxton A. (2008) A Socio Cultural Lens on Mothers’ Mental Health across the Transition to Parenthood. Paper presented at Annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations. Little Rock Arkansas Nov. 13 2008
Arnold, D. H., Zeljo, A., Doctoroff, G. L, & Ortiz, C. (2008). Parent involvement in preschool: Predictors and the relation of involvement to preliteracy development. School Psychology Review, 37, 74-90.
Meagher, S. M., Arnold, D. H., Doctoroff, G. L., & Baker, C. N. (2008). The relationship between maternal beliefs and behavior during shared reading. Early Education and Development, 19, 138-160.
Hellerstedt, W.L., Madsen, N.J., Gunnar, M.R., Grotevant, H.D., Lee, R.M., & Johnson, D.E. (2008). The International Adoption Project: Population-based surveillance of Minnesota parents who adopted children internationally. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 12(2), 162-171.
Constantino, M. J., Overtree, C. E., & Geva, Z. (2008). The influence of patients' expectations on alliance quality and treatment engagement in treatment-as-usual in a training clinic: Preliminary findings. Paper presented at the meeting of the North American Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, New Haven, CT.
Goldberg, A. E., & Perry-Jenkins, M. (2007). The division of labor and perceptions of parental roles: Lesbian couples across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 24, 297-318.
Perry-Jenkins, M., Goldberg, A., Pierce C, & Sayer, A. (2007). Shift Work, role overload and the transition to parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 123-138.
Perry-Jenkins, M., Bourne, H., & Meteyer, K. (2007). Work-family challenges for blue-collar families. Chapter in T. Juravich (Ed.) pp. 185-204, The Future of Work in Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press.
Brown, S. A., Arnold, D. H., Dobbs, J., & Doctoroff, G. L. (2007). Parenting predictors of overt and relational aggression among Puerto Rican and European American school-aged children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 147-159.
Overtree, C.E. (2007). Providing Low Fee Psychological Assessments as a Community Service. In A Social Justice Agenda for Training in Training Clinics. Symposium presented at the American Psychological Association Conference, San Francisco, CA.
Claxton, A. & Perry-Jenkins, M. Why Social Class Matters: Its meaning and measurement. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations. Pittsburgh, PA November 2007.
Perry-Jenkins, M., & Smith, J.A. Blue-collar Blues: Work conditions and the mental health of dual-earner parents. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations. Pittsburgh, PA November 2007.
Lee, R.M., Grotevant, H.D., Hellerstedt, W., Gunnar, M., and the Minnesota International
Adoption Project Team. (2006). Cultural socialization in families with internationally adopted children. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 571-580.
Arnold, D. H., Brown, S., Meagher, S., Baker, C. N., Dobbs, J., & Doctoroff, G. L. (2006). Preschool-based programs for externalizing problems, Education and Treatment of Children, 29, 311-340.
Dobbs, J., Doctoroff, G. L., Fisher, P. H., & Arnold, D. H. (2006). The association between preschool children’s socio-emotional functioning and mathematical achievement. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27, 97-108.
Doctoroff, G. L., Greer, J., & Arnold, D. H. (2006). Gender differences in the relationship between social behavior and early academic development in preschoolers. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 27, 1-13.
Maxie, A. C., Arnold, D. H., & Stephenson, M. (2006). Do therapists address ethnic differences in cross-cultural psychotherapy? Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43, 85-98.
Gibson, P., Nelson-Christine, J., Grotevant, H.D., & Kwon, H-K. (2005). The well-being of African American adolescents within formal and informal adoption arrangements. Adoption Quarterly, 9(1), 59-78.
Kim, H-J, Arnold, D. H, Fisher, P. H., & Zeljo, A. (2005). Parenting and preschoolers’ symptoms as a function of child gender and SES. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 27, 23-41.
Perry-Jenkins, M. (2005). Work in the working class: Challenges facing workers and their families. Chapter in Bianchi, S.M., Casper, L.M., & R.B. King (Eds.) pp. 453-472 Work, Family, Health and Well-being. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Aging
O’Rourke, N., Kupferschmidt, A. L., Claxton, A., Smith, J. Z., Chappell, N., & Beattie, B. L. (In press). Psychological resilience predicts depressive symptoms among spouses of persons with Alzheimer disease over time. Aging and Mental Health.
O’Rourke, N., Claxton, A., Kupferschmidt, A. L., Smith, J. Z., & Beattie, B. L. (In press). Marital idealization as an enduring buffer to distress among spouses of persons with Alzheimer disease. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
O’Rourke, N., Chou, P. H. B., Claxton, A., & Smith, J. Z. (In press). Personality trait levels within older couples and between-spouse trait differences as predictors of marital satisfaction. Aging and Mental Health.
O’Rourke, N., Neufeld, E., Claxton, A., & Smith, J. Z. (2010). ‘Knowing me – knowing you’: Reported personality and trait as predictors of idealization between long wed spouses. Psychology and Aging, 25, 412 – 421.
Ready, R.E., Marquez, D.X., & Akerstedt, A. (2009). Emotions in younger and older adults: Retrospective and prospective associations with sleep and physical activity. Journal of Experimental Aging Research. 35, 348-368.
Ready, R.E., Carvalho, J., & Weinberger, M.I. (2009). Emotional complexity in younger, midlife, and older adults. Psychology and Aging, 23, 928-933.
Lundquist, T. & Ready, R.E. (2008). Young adult attitudes about Alzheimer’s disease. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 23, 267-273.
Ready, R.E. & Robinson, M.D. (2008). Do older individuals adapt to their traits?: Personality-emotion relations among younger and older adults. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1020-1030.
Kapucu, A., Rotello, C., Ready, R.E., & Seidl, K. (2008). Response bias in 'remembering' emotional stimuli: A new perspective on age differences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 703-711.
Ready, R.E, Mathews, M., Leserman, A., & Paulsen, J.S. (2008). Patient and caregiver quality of life in Huntington’s disease. Movement Disorders, 23, 721-726.
Ready, R.E. & Ott, B.R. (2007/2008). Integrating patient and informant reports on the Cornell-Brown Quality of Life Scale. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 22, 528-534.
Ready, R.E., Weinberger, M., & Jones, K. (2007). How happy have you felt lately? A diary study of emotion recall in older and younger adults. Cognition and Emotion, 21, 728-757.
Ready, R.E., Ott, B.R., Grace, J. (2007). Factor structure of patient and caregiver ratings on the Dementia Quality of Life Instrument. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 14, 144-154.
Ready, R.E., Robinson, M.D., & Weinberger, M. (2006). Age differences in the organization of emotion knowledge: Effects involving valence and time frame. Psychology and Aging, 21, 726-736.
Ready, R.E., Ott, B.R., & Grace, J. (2006). Insight and cognitive impairment: Effects on quality of life reports from Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s disease patients. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 21, 242-248.
Martire, L.M., Keefe, F.J., Schulz, R., Ready, R., Beach, S.R., Rudy, T.E., & Starz, T.W. (2006). Older spouses’ perception of partner’s chronic pain: Implications for spousal responses, support provision, and caregiving experiences. Psychology and Aging, 21, 222-230.
Sneed, J.R. & Whitbourne, S.K. (2006; online published 2008). Core stages in psychosocial development: A 34-year longitudinal study. Journal of Adult Development. 13, 146-157.
Brown, L.B., Ott, B.R., Papandonatos, G.D., Sui, Y., Ready, R.E., & Morris, J.C. (2005). Prediction of on-road driving performance in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 53, 94-98.
Sneed, J.R. & Whitbourne, S.K. (2005). Ageism in models of the aging self. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 375-388.
LGBT
Goldberg, A., & Smith, J. Z. (In press). Stigma, support and mental health: Lesbian and gay male couples across the transition parenthood. Journal of Counseling Psychology.
Goldberg, A., Smith, J. Z., Kashy, D. (2010). Preadoptive factors predicting lesbian, gay and heterosexual couples relationship quality across the transition parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 221-232.
Goldberg, A., & Smith, J. Z. (2009). Perceived parenting skill across the transition to adoptive parenthood: A study of lesbian, gay and heterosexual couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 861-870.
Goldberg, A., & Smith J. Z. (2009). Predicting non-African American lesbian and heterosexual preadoptive couples’ openness to adopting an African American child. Journal of Family Relations, 58, 346-360.
Goldberg, A. & Smith, J. Z. (2008). The social context of lesbian mothers’ anxiety during the transition to parenthood. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3, 213-239.
Goldberg, A., & Smith, J. Z. (2008). Social support and well-being in lesbian and heterosexual preadoptive couples. Journal of Family Relations, 57, 281-291.
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