Association of Neuropsychology Students and Trainees (ANST)
Follow us online!
  • Home
    • About ANST
    • ANST Leadership
    • FAQ/Contact Us
  • Membership & Interest Groups
    • Joining ANST
    • ANST Interest Groups
    • Starting an Interest Group
    • ANST Highlights
  • Training & Education
    • What's Neuropsychology?
    • Professional Definitions
    • Organizations to Know
  • ANST Media
    • ANST Blog
    • ANST Listserv
    • Webinars
    • Social Media
  • Resources
    • Conferences & Events
    • Funding
    • On the Web
    • Downloadable Materials

Chapter Rep Corner: Diversity and Cultural Considerations in Neuropsychology

5/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors to the Chapter Rep Corner represent individual views and opinions of psychology trainees and are, in no way, intended to represent professional/expert opinion nor the views/opinions of the SCN.


Diversity and Cultural Considerations in Neuropsychology

Why is Diversity/Culture Important in Neuropsychology?
Providing culturally sensitive clinical services is an ethical responsibility for all practicing neuropsychologists. Approximately 50 million Hispanics, 39 million African-Americans, and 15 million Asian-Americans live in the U.S. Minority populations are rapidly growing as demonstrated by a 40% increase in Hispanic and Asian populations, and a 13% increase in the African-American population since 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). However, there is currently a substantial lack of qualified professionals in our field to meet the needs of individuals with diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g., individuals speaking a language(s) other than English with different cultural customs and/or acculturation concerns).

Conducting Neuropsychological Evaluations with Linguistically Diverse Populations
There are several issues to consider when conducting neuropsychological assessment with linguistically diverse populations. The first step as a graduate student is to obtain adequate clinical supervision by a neuropsychologist who has experience with the targeted population. This ensures that services are provided with a culturally sensitive approach. Although on-site supervision is not always possible, other options such as consulting with a neuropsychologist with expertise in cross-cultural assessments can be done via teleconference in conjunction with their on-site supervisor. The second step involves deciding with your supervisor which approach is the most appropriate for your evaluation. For example, you must decide whether you will be employing the use of an interpreter if you do not speak the patient’s native language or if you will be providing clinical services as a native speaker of that language. Both an interpreter and/or graduate student need to be fluent in the patient’s native language, and need training and familiarity with research regarding cultural issues inherent to neuropsychological assessment. Thirdly, you must be familiar with the population your clients belong to. For example, the Hispanic population is rather heterogeneous in nature. Therefore, being familiar with subtle linguistic nuances and cultural traditions are paramount for a proper intake assessment and in choosing norms that best suit your patient. Regarding the latter, having knowledge of the norms for the particular measure you are using is important, such as the size and demographics of the sample (i.e., whether it was normed with native Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, or individuals from other Spanish-speaking countries). Test selection may be guided by proper translation that meets International Test Commission guidelines including translation into the desired language, review by a bilingual expert panel, and finally, translating the instrument back to English (back-translation) to identify any problem words or phrases. Furthermore, you must consider the level of acculturation of your patient, including the preference of their native language versus English and their integration into the current culture versus their native culture. Other important factors include the impact of bilingualism, socioeconomic status, and educational level on an individual’s performance on neuropsychological measures. 

Issues with Providing Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology Services
The steps above reflect an ideal situation in which a) you recognize the need to conduct a culturally sensitive evaluation; b) you are able to obtain adequate clinical supervision in conjunction with your on-site supervisor; and c) you have tests available that have adequate norms for the populations you want to work with that are reliable and valid. However, the current state of neuropsychology indicates a strong need for not only individuals trained to provide such services, but also for culturally sensitive neuropsychological measures and assessments of which there is a substantial inequality compared to tests for English speakers. The use of interpreters and native-speaking psychometrists/graduate students requires adequate clinical supervision and heavily depends on the resources available for an evaluation. Minority trainee students may find themselves in uncomfortable positions when asked to provide literal translation of tests that does not meet ITC standards. However, this provides an opportunity for students to inform their supervisors of these standards and why a literal translation is not linguistically equivalent or an applicable use of norms. Overall, competence in conducting neuropsychological evaluations with diverse populations involves a complex process that requires extensive clinical training and familiarity with appropriate measures and associated research.

Resources for Graduate Students Pursuing Training in Cross-Cultural Neuropsychology: 
Below is a compilation of various organizations that provide resources for trainees interested in this area:
  • Hispanic Neuropsychological Society
  • Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (SCN) PIAC Ethnic Minority Affairs (EMA) Subcommittee
  • The National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) Culture and Diversity Committee

FURTHER READINGS:
  • AACN Multicultural References.
  • American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
  • American Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists. http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/multicultural-guidelines.aspx.
  • Antonio E. Puente, Ph.D.: website with multiple resources listed.
  • Artiola i Fortuny, L. & Mullaney, H. A. (1998). Assessing patients whose language you do not know: can the absurd be ethical? The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 11(3), 113-126.
  • Boone, K. B., Victor, T. L., When, J., Razani, J., & Ponton, M. O. (2007). The association between neuropsychological scores and ethnicity, language, and acculturation variables in a large patient population. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 22, 355– 365.
  • Brickman, A., Cabo, R., & Manly, J. (2006). Ethical issues in cross-cultural neuropsychology. Applied Neuropsychology, 13(2), 91-100.
  • International Test Commission.
  • Mindt, M. R., Arentoft, A., Germano, K.K., D’Aquila, E., Scheiner, D., Pizzirusso, M., Sandoval, T.C., & Gollan, T.H. (2008).Neuropsychological, cognitive and theoretical considerations for evaluation of bilingual individuals. Neuropsychol Rev., 18 (3): 255-268.
  • Mindt, M. R., Byrd, D. Saez, P., & Manly, J. (2010). Increasing culturally competent neuropsychological services for ethnic minorities: A call to action. Clin Neuropsychol, 24 (3): 429-453.
  • Perez-Arce, P. (1999). The influence of culture on cognition. Archives of Clin Neuropsychol, 14 (7): 581-592.
  • Puente, A. E., Zink, D. N., Hernandez, M., Jackman Venanzi, T, & Ardila, A. (2013). Bilingualism and its impact on psychological assessment. In L. Benuto (Ed.), Guide to psychological assessment with Hispanics (pp. 15–31). New York, NY: Springer.
  • Robbins, R. N., Schuler, M., Ferrett, H. L., & Strutt, A. M. (2013). Operationalizing a standard and ethical approach to neuropsychological assessment across diverse cultures. In F.R. Ferraro (Ed.), Minority and Cross-Cultural Aspects of Neuropsychological Assessment. Swets & Zeitlinger. (In Review).
  • U.S. Census Bureau (March, 2011). Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf
  • Wong, T. M. (2006). Ethical Controversies in Neuropsychological Test Selection, Administration, and Interpretation. Applied Neuropsychology,13(2), 68-76.

This ANST Chapter Rep Corner on Diversity and Cultural Considerations in Neuropsychology was created in collaboration with Octavio A. Santos, ANST Liaison Officer, and Christine M. Salinas, Psy.D., Member-at-Large for the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society.

About the Author:

Christina Eguizabal Love is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) in Melbourne, Florida. Christina is the current ANST chapter representative at FIT and the student representative-elect for the Hispanic Neuropsychological Society (HNS). She is focusing her graduate studies in the areas of neuropsychology and child/family issues, while completing clinical practicums conducting evaluations for pediatric epilepsy surgical patients. Additionally, she is providing therapeutic services for children under inpatient crisis stabilization. Christina is also completing her dissertation on the relationship between executive functioning and quality of life in pediatric epilepsy patients. Christina is a fluent Spanish speaker and a second generation immigrant to the U.S. Her family originates from Cali, Colombia. With the burgeoning Hispanic population in the Central Florida area, Christina has relevant clinical experience with issues inherent to providing neuropsychological services to diverse individuals.
0 Comments

Chapter Rep Corner: Music Therapy with a Neurologic Population

2/24/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors to the Chapter Rep Corner represent individual views and opinions of psychology trainees and are, in no way, intended to represent professional/expert opinion nor the views/opinions of the SCN.


Music Therapy with a Neurologic Population

What is Music Therapy?

Music therapy has its beginnings as a formal therapeutic modality during World War I and II when local musicians volunteered to perform for wounded soldiers suffering from “shell shock” in field hospitals and physicians observed the notable physical and emotional responses in the patients. In 1944, the first official undergraduate degree program for music therapy was established at Michigan State University. Currently, there are over 70 colleges and universities that offer music therapy training and 30 graduate programs in the United States alone.

Music therapy is defined by the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) as “the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.” Music therapy interventions can be designed to promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, enhance memory, improve communication, and promote physical rehabilitation. Board-certified music therapists find themselves in general and psychiatric hospitals, community mental health facilities, schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and in private practice.

Music Therapy in Practice with a Neurologic Population

The story of Congresswoman Gabby Gifford’s recovery after being critically injured by a gunshot wound to the head was featured prominently in the media.  Her considerable injuries required her to engage in intensive physical, cognitive, and speech therapies. One additional therapeutic modality that assisted Gifford’s during her rehabilitation was music therapy.  In the following clip from ABC News, the role of music therapy is discussed in Gifford’s recovery.   

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyNews/gabby-giffords-finding-voice-music-therapy/story?id=14903987

Clinical research studies over the last 15 years have investigated the use of music-based interventions in the rehabilitation of speech, language, and cognitive functions. The theory of why these interventions work is that brain systems underlying music are shared with other functions and that music is a unique stimulus in that it activates brain structures bilaterally.   When working with individuals with aphasia from acquired brain injury, for example, music therapists often use a specific technique called Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT). MIT uses the musical elements of speech such as melody and rhythm to improve expressive function by engaging language-capable regions in the undamaged right hemisphere and utilizing an unaffected function (singing) with individuals with nonfluent aphasia. (1,3,4) Actively engaging in singing, which relies heavily on brain systems in the right hemisphere, can bypass injured speech centers in the left-hemisphere.

There are several other areas where music therapy has been shown to be effective in rehabilitative settings. For example, Parkinson’s patients can improve their gait length and walking speed when stepping to the beat of music. This intervention, called Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS), provides rhythmic cues for patients, allowing for more consistent, flexible movement, which additionally reduces fall risk. The rhythmic cues inherent in the music serve as an auditory trigger and assist in preventing “freezing” so commonly seen with these patients (2,5).  

Video of RAS via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr4-HGffTrk

In studies on memory, participants learning a list of words in song format demonstrate activation in temporal and frontal brain areas on both sides of the brain, as opposed to participants learning a list in spoken-word presentation, which only activated the left-hemisphere (6). Music can be used to help individuals with attention problems caused by traumatic brain injury or stroke due to music’s ability to activate the attention network on both sides of the brain (7).

Music therapy is a holistic, engaging, non-pharmacological treatment modality that can play a significant role in the long road to recovery for individuals with brain injury.

FURTHER READING:

The American Music Therapy Association
http://www.musictherapy.org/

Media: ABC News Clip- Gabby Giffords: Finding Words Through Music
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyNews/gabby-giffords-finding-voice-music-therapy/story?id=14903987

REFERENCES:
  1. Hartley, M.L., Turry, A.T., & Raghavan, P. (2010). The role of music and music therapy in aphasia rehabilitation. Music and Medicine, 2, 235-242. 
  2. Hausdorff, J.M., Lowenthal, J., Herman, T., Gruendlinger, L., Peretz, C., & Giladi, N. (2007). Rhythmic auditory stimulation modulates gait variability in Parkinson’s disease. European Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 2369-2375. 
  3. Hommel, M., Peres, B., & Pollack, P. Memin, B., Besson, G., Gaio, J.M., & Perret, J. (1990). Effects of passive tactile and auditory stimuli on left visual neglect. Archives of Neurology, 47, 573-576.
  4. Schlaug, G., Marchina, S., & Norton, A. (2009). Evidence for plasticity in white-matter tracts of patients with chronic Broca’s aphasia undergoing intense intonation-based speech therapy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1169, 385–394
  5. Schlaug, G., Marchina, S., & Norton, A. (2008). From singing to speaking: why singing may lead to recovery of expressive language function in patients with Broca’s aphasia. Music Perception, 25, 315-323. 
  6. Thaut, M.H., McIntosh, G.C., Rice, R.R., Miller, R.A., Rathbun, J., & Brault, J.M. (2004). Rhythmic auditory stimulation in gain training for Parkinson’s disease patients. Movement Disorders, 11, 193-200. 
  7. Thaut, M.H., Peterson, D.A., McIntosh, G.C. (2005). Temporal entrainment of cognitive functions: Musical mnemonics induce brain plasticity and oscillatory synchrony in neural networks underlying memory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1060, 243-254. 

About the Author: Allison O'Mara

Allison O’Mara is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology Concentration) Program at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.  In addition to heading up her program’s ANST chapter, Allison stays busy completing clinical practicums at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and the Chicago Center for Cognitive Wellness, engaging in research at her institution, and working on her dissertation project, all the while making generous commitments of her time to various community service projects.  Allison is a classically trained musician, and prior to beginning her doctoral program, she completed graduate training in music therapy and worked as a music therapist in various medical and hospice settings.  Below, Allison introduces us to the exciting world of music therapy and explains the relevance and utility of this work to neurological rehabilitation.
0 Comments

Chapter Rep Corner: Article Review Process

1/20/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors to the Chapter Rep Corner represent individual views and opinions of psychology trainees and are, in no way, intended to represent professional/expert opinion nor the views/opinions of the SCN.


Article Review Process

Participating in the article review process as a graduate student has several benefits, which include (1) facilitating your staying up to date with the current literature, (2) developing and enhancing your professional diversity, (3) and enhancing your own scientific writing ability. It also provides a professional opportunity to contribute to the scientific development of your field. Serving as a peer reviewer also functions as a means of enhancing your own writing quality and scientific work.

There are several ways to become involved in the article review process. One way is to speak with a faculty member at your institution about your interest in becoming a reviewer and offer to serve as a co-reviewer on a paper with them. This will provide you with the chance to learn the process under the direction of a faculty supervisor. Additionally, serving as a co-reviewer will create an opportunity for the editor to gain insight regarding your ability to effectively serve as a potential reviewer in the future. To become a co-reviewer on a manuscript, it is recommended that approval is sought in advance from the journal editor due to the confidential nature of the review process. Speaking with peers about becoming a reviewer is another way, as it is likely that some have served in the past or are currently serving as reviewers for various journals. Contacting the editor of a journal directly is another way to become involved as a peer reviewer. When contacting the editor, it is important to provide information regarding your basic qualifications as well as your specific areas of interest in order to provide the editor with an appropriate idea of what manuscripts you might be best suited to review. Finally, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is another method for becoming a reviewer. As you become established in a particular area, editors may invite you to engage in the review process for their journal. However, those early in their career are likely to have limited publications and therefore this option may take longer.

It is important to note however, that to be a reviewer for several journals, including the American Psychological Association (APA) journals, that there may be requirements that must be met such as having published yourself in a peer-reviewed journal. Additional recommendations posed by journals for those interested in seeking reviewer status are to be a frequent reader of empirical journals in your area of expertise in order to have current knowledge of the standing literature. For those interested in serving as a reviewer for a neuropsychology journal, several journals to become familiar with include the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Journal of Neuropsychology, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, and Neuropsychology.

Upon becoming a peer reviewer for a journal it is fundamental that one is familiar with the review process itself. Duff and colleagues published in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology on how to become a peer reviewer, in which they outline recommendations for how one should go about reviewing a manuscript for a neuropsychology journal (see Duff et al., 2009).
 
FURTHER READING

Duff, K., O’Bryant, S.E., Westervelt, H.J., Sweet, J.J., Reynolds, C.R., van Gorp, W.G., Tranel, D., & McCaffrey, R.J. (2009). On becoming a peer reviewer for a neuropsychology journal. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24, 201-207.

About the Author: Melissa Edwards

Melissa Edwards, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine program at University of North Texas under the advisement of Sid O’Bryant, Phd, and James Hall, PhD.  In addition to serving as the founding chapter representative of the ANST chapter at University of North Texas, Melissa stays active with a variety of research and clinical pursuits in neuropsychology.  She has an impressive publication history, including 18 peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as numerous presentations at regional and national conferences.  Melissa has also gained valuable insight into the peer review process by working with her mentors as a reviewer-in-training.  Below, she shares some of her tips and discusses available resources for other ANST members interested in gaining similar experiences reviewing scientific research articles. 
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    An RSS Feed lets you subscribe to this blog series, and you'll receive notifications whenever a new addition is posted.
    

    Archives

    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013


    Categories

    All
    ANST Director's Meeting
    Chapter Rep Corner
    Neurorounds
    NPsych In The Media
    Research Roundup


    Other Blogs/Podcasts

    SCN NeuroBlog

    BrainBlogger

    Neurophilosophy


    Brain Science Podcast

    Neuropod

    Neuroscientists Talk Shop

    gradPSYCH Blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.