Random abstract from Training and Education in Professional Psychology

Cultivating cultural consciousness: Identity-based affinity groups among clinical trainees.
The ability to understand one’s and others’ cultural conditioning is essential to developing culturally responsive clinical practice. One means to do this is through ingroup discussion about a shared social identity. This study examines the impact of affinity groups on critical and cultural consciousness among student trainees in a doctoral clinical psychology program. For 6 weeks, 13 participants convened weekly in small identity-related affinity groups, discussing a shared identity using a list of provided prompts. Written reflections of the groups were analyzed, and seven themes emerged: initial apprehension, positive experience, intimacy and safe space, commonality of experience, exploration of intersectionality, group connection and expansiveness, and conscientization of self and other. The groups served as positive, supportive spaces of identity-based enlightenment, with exploration of the interconnectedness of social identities, and deepened insight regarding societal positioning and impact. Implications of the use of affinity groups to develop cultural and critical consciousness within trainees are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)