Developing Cultural Self-Awareness for Intervention in Diversity Contexts: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Intercultural competence
• Diversity and inclusion studies
• Psychology of bias

Background:

• Practitioner biases and stereotypes, stemming from cultural backgrounds, can impact diversity interventions.
• Cultural self-awareness is a critical but under-researched component of intercultural competence.
• Understanding how cultural self-awareness is addressed is vital for effective diversity training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of how cultural self-awareness is discussed in literature related to interventions in diverse settings.
• To identify existing research and gaps concerning the development of cultural self-awareness.
• To synthesize findings on methods for enhancing cultural self-awareness in practitioners.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review methodology based on the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines was employed.
• Keywords were selected and translated across multiple databases for comprehensive searching.
• Studies underwent rigorous sorting (title/abstract, full text) and data extraction.

Main Results:

• Twenty-five studies were included in the final analysis.
• Workshops involving participant interaction were identified as effective for developing cultural self-awareness.
• Both students and the existing workforce can benefit from such developmental interventions.

Conclusions:

• Cultural self-awareness can be effectively cultivated through interactive workshops.
• The research landscape for cultural self-awareness in diversity interventions is nascent and requires further exploration.
• Continued investigation is needed to fully understand and leverage cultural self-awareness in diverse contexts.