Diversity Training: Conceptual Issues and Practices for Canadian Clinical Psychology Programs

This article presents recent arguments about the need for sensitivity to diversity issues in psychological practice, and for training programs to attend to these issues. The results of a survey related to the extent and nature of diversity training in Canadian clinical psychology programs are presented, in which diversity was defined broadly as reflecting the vast number of possible individual differences (e.g., culture, nationality, ethnicity, colour, race, gender, religion, sexual preference, disability, economic disadvantage) that can affect clinical psychology knowledge, research, and practice. Directors of Clinical Training ( DCT s) at all Canadian clinical psychology programs were asked about the extent to which various aspects of diversity training were deemed important or essential to their program, what training activities were required, and how effective different methods of training were viewed. The results revealed that DCT s varied widely in their opinion of how important diversity materials were, and that few programs require many different methods of training related to diversity. Further, the training methods more commonly adopted did not generally relate well with those that were seen as being most effective. Implications of the survey for training in clinical psychology are provided. Cet article présente des arguments en faveur du besoin de sensibilisation par rapport aux enjeux de diversité dans la pratique de la psychologie et de la nécessité de mettre sur pied des programmes de formation pour aborder ces enjeux. Les résultats d'un sondage portant sur l'étendue et la nature des programmes de formation en matière de diversité au sein des programmes canadiens de psychologie clinique sont présentés. Ce sondage donnait une définition large à la diversité, la présentant comme reflétant un grand nombre de différences individuelles possibles (p. ex. la culture, la nationalité, l'ethnicité, la couleur, la race, le sexe, la religion, les préférences sexuelles, les handicaps physiques, les milieux défavorisés) qui peuvent influer sur les connaissances, la recherche et la pratique de la psychologie clinique. On a interrogé l'ensemble des directeurs de la formation clinique de tous les programmes canadiens de psychologie clinique pour déterminer à quel point les divers aspects de la formation en matière de diversité étaient considérés importants ou essentiels à leur programme, quelles activités de formation étaient exigées et comment on jugeait l'e