Developing the Cultural Awareness Skills of Behavior Analysts

Fong et al. (2016) wrote a how-to paper for behavior analysts.

They said: map your own culture and your client’s culture before you pick an assessment or intervention.

The paper gives step-by-step ways to build cultural awareness and then bake it into everyday practice.

The paper is a position paper, not an experiment.

It gives practical strategies instead of new data.

The main product is a clear set of self-mapping tools you can use right away.

Jaramillo et al. (2022) extends this work. They turned the broad idea of cultural awareness into a laser focus on racial implicit bias and gave behavior-based tactics like self-monitoring and contingency management.

Beene (2019) and Szabo (2020) act as successors. They move the lens from the solo analyst to the whole organization, showing how to use reinforcement systems to fix diversity gaps at the company level.

Hamama et al. (2021) tested a parent-focused bias tool—Sesame Street videos—and got positive results. It hints that bias-reduction works, but with parents instead of clinicians, so it complements rather than replaces Fong’s clinician self-work.

You can start Monday. Take five minutes to list your own cultural rules and then ask your client’s family to do the same.

Compare the lists before you pick goals, language, or reinforcers.

This quick map keeps you from guessing culture and keeps your treatment client-centered.