Multicultural competence of psychologists in the South Africa context: a rapid review

Abstract

Multicultural competence in the psychology profession refers to a psychologist’s ability to offer quality and suitable care to diverse patients despite socio-cultural dissimilarities and other systemic challenges (Schouler-Ocak et al., 2015). South Africa seems to have a shortage of multiculturally competent psychologists, mainly due to a history of Eurocentric approaches that have negatively affected the exercise of diversity and multiculturality. As such, not only have normality and abnormality been defined in a manner that is disconnected from African traditions and beliefs, but the training of psychologists is still to a large extent based on a monocultural approach only. There is a large gap in the available research with respect to the multicultural competence of psychologists when it comes to our understanding and the application of multicultural skills within the South African context, and the training of psychologists to do so. Based on this, a rapid review was conducted to address the following questions: (i) What are the components of multicultural competence? (ii) What is the effect of multicultural components on psychologists’ effectiveness? and (iii) What are the implications for South African psychologists? A rapid review is a data generation strategy that synthesizes and evaluates the research evidence on a specific topic using ‘abbreviated’ systematic review methods. This study was conducted using the EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) search portal by applying a Boolean search to modify or combine search terms and keywords related to multicultural competence. The inclusion criteria were studies published in peer-reviewed journals in English between 1990 and 2020; focusing on the multicultural aspects related to registered psychologists in private practice or interns or student psychologists. Studies were excluded if reported in reviews, editorials, magazines, books, reports, or letters. A secondary search was conducted using Google Scholar to increase the integrity of the search. Nine studies were found to be relevant to the study and to be scientifically sound for the review. The extracted data were then systematically examined to identify and report themes according to the phases of a thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006). Three main themes were identified, namely (1) components of multicultural competency; (2) components of multicultural incompetency; and (3) the development of multicultural competency. Components of multicultural competence include two subthemes, multicultural competency orientation and multicultural competence skills, like openness to learning, using culture in an appropriate way, and displaying empathy. Multicultural incompetency consists of components like discrimination and micro-aggression, pathologizing cultural differences and ethical misconduct. The development of multicultural competency consists of three subthemes, professional training, family influence and personal dynamics.