Some normative data on mental health professionals' attitudes about racial minorities and women.
Although codes of ethics of the mental health professions and the recently developed race- and gender-specific models of counseling and psychotherapy stipulate positive and accepting attitudes toward racial minorities and women, formal assessment of these attitudes has been hindered by the absence of appropriate measurement tools and generalizable data. This study provides some normative data by reporting responses of 705 psychologists and social workers to the Quick Discrimination Index, a psychometrically sound 23-item self-report measure previously administered to several different professional groups. Analysis indicated psychologists and social workers reported particularly positive attitudes toward racial minorities and women but expressed the same racial and sex contradictions, ambivalences, and vulnerabilities reported by the general public.
Green
Robert G
RG
School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1001 West Franklin Street, P.O. Box 842027, Richmond, VA 23284-2027, USA. rggreen@vcu.edu
Hamlin
Hailey
H
Ogden
Vickie
V
Walters
Kim
K
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008913:Minority Groups; D011287:Prejudice; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011639:Public Opinion; D012947:Social Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014930:Women