Deck 7: Racism in Health-Care and Human- Services

Question 1

In the human services sector, the term 'patronizing approaches' best describes

A) The condescending way counsellors treat their clients
B) A new way of getting people to acknowledge their biases
C) The level of resistance 'Whites' exhibit when their power and privilege is challenged
D) Another term for 'cultural sensitivity'
E) The paternalistic attitudes that teachers in residential schools showed their students

Answer 1

The level of resistance 'Whites' exhibit when their power and privilege is challenged

Question 2

One major problem with a multicultural approach to the delivery of human services is

A) That it fails to work in organizations with over 100 employees
B) That it situates the practitioner as the expert with superior knowledge and that culture is a static and homogeneous system
C) That it promotes the discourse of reverse racism
D) That it's too costly to operate effectively
E) That it totally eliminates whiteness from the ideologies and theories that underpin the teaching and practice of social work and health care

Answer 2

That it situates the practitioner as the expert with superior knowledge and that culture is a static and homogeneous system

Question 3

Identify one of the barriers to health and social services that have been routinely identified by minority group clients:

A) Higher prices for services in poor, disadvantaged communities compared to other parts of the city
B) Inappropriateness of treatment modes and counselling
C) Unqualified and inexperienced service providers in minority neighbourhoods
D) Government interventions
E) Poor short- and long-term strategies for recruiting minority clients into mainstream agencies

Answer 3

Inappropriateness of treatment modes and counselling

Question 4

Rather than focusing on anti-racism, the pervading models of 'good practice' in the human-services sector seem to focus on

A) Individual interventions with minority clients to assist them in adapting to their oppressive situation
B) Incidents of reverse racism
C) Creating health-care workers who are willing to challenge the status quo
D) Ensuring that social workers feel 'good' about themselves, even if they are unable to help their clients
E) The good intentions of human-service practitioners who are willing to ignore the different ways that minority groups deal with their problems

Question 5

Even though access to basic social and health services is a form of universal entitlement, studies have found that mainstream agencies in the human-service delivery system have failed to provide ______ and equitable services.

A) Separate
B) Multicultural
C) Accessible
D) Insurable
E) Free

Question 6

Some universities have attempted to address issues of racism and other forms of oppression by providing students with optional courses that focus on ethno-racial diversity, such as 'cultural awareness' models of social work. However, these models generally

A) Are taught by white teachers who live in the suburbs
B) Succeed when they are taught in universities with diverse student populations
C) Devalue the contributions of minority practitioners enrolled in these courses
D) Provide both teachers and students with an unrealistic view of a Canadian society doing its best to confront incidents of racism
E) Fail to examine the assimilationist assumptions of social work practice that these models are based upon

Question 7

The indifferent attitudes and a lack of commitment to seek remedies for patterns of exclusion and inaccessibility in the delivery of human-services is an example of which of the following terms?

A) New racism
B) Symbolic racism
C) Active racism
D) Institutional racism
E) Environmental racism

Question 8

Ethno-racial organizations often act as brokers and _____ for minority populations by providing them with services, such as family counselling or settlement and integration assistance.

A) Accountants
B) Legal counsel
C) Advocates
D) Messengers
E) Government agents

Question 9

The failure of traditional human service organizations to adequately respond to the changing needs of a multiracial and pluralistic society created an immediate need for ________.

A) White supremacist organizations
B) Government sponsored programs and services
C) Human rights conferences in Canada
D) Ethno-racial organizations
E) Segregated agencies

Question 10

Services provided by many ethno-racial agencies that are often absent in the mainstream agencies would include:

A) Programs offered in at least one of Canada's official languages
B) Services available Monday to Friday from 9 to 5
C) Home visits
D) Taking on referrals
E) Providing free transportation to and from the agency

Question 11

One manifestation of racism in human-service organizations that minority workers frequently encounter has been

A) The lack of recognition given to the knowledge, skills, and experience they have acquired in their home countries
B) The physical and verbal violence they are forced to endure from both colleagues and clients from the dominant culture
C) The allegations of preferential treatment which often prohibits minority practitioners working with minority clients
D) Constant inferences that they have only achieved their high-ranking status within the organization because of job quotas imposed on human-service agencies by the government
E) The denial of a voice in decision-making processes within the organization

Question 12

Minority workers in the human-services commonly function from a dual perspective. On the one hand, they understand the needs and concerns of their own communities. However, they also understand

A) That they have stronger commitments to the agency that employs them
B) What it is like to have to survive in a 'white world'
C) That their minority status can also impair their ability to be objective
D) The limitations of programs offered by mainstream human-service organizations
E) That others are constantly observing how they interact with clients from the dominant group for signs of racial bias

Question 13

In 2003, as the number of people afflicted by SARS began to escalate, including a significant number of health care workers, racial stereotyping of Asian-Canadian communities became commonplace in the city of Toronto. Which of the following discourses was used in the public response to the crisis caused by SARS?

A) Discourse of White Victimization
B) Discourse of Moral Panic
C) Discourse of Multiculturalism
D) Discourse of Blaming the Victim
E) Discourse of Rationality and Subjectivity

Question 14

In the midst of the SARS outbreak in Canada, many Asian-Canadian front-line health-care workers, in addition to their daily burden of taking care of patients, also had to deal with the fears and biases of their colleagues. For example, many of their colleagues believed

A) That since the outbreak started in China, all Asians are immune to the disease
B) That Asian workers were genetically predisposed to the disease
C) That if they came into contact with Asian workers, they would become a victim of SARS
D) That Asian workers should be forced to stay home until the outbreak had ended for fear of contamination
E) That the outbreak would not have spread to Canada if Asians did not maintain cultural practices that are seen as 'different'

Question 15

In her study documenting manifestations of systemic racism experienced on the job by nurses of colour, Calliste (1996) found that

A) White nurses often felt their jobs were being threatened whenever they had to work with colleagues who were mostly people of colour
B) White nurses routinely found ways to undermine the credibility of minority nurses in front of doctors, nurses, and even patients
C) Black nurses were disciplined for minor or nonexistent problems for which white nurses were not disciplined
D) Black nurses were unsympathetic towards white nurses who had been reprimanded for engaging in discriminatory conduct
E) Minority nurses in supervisory positions were over-paid and under-qualified when compared to white nurses with at least ten years experience

Question 16

The 'racialization of surveillance practices' refers to

A) Hospitals that administer mild sedatives to minority patients without their consent because of stereotypes that assume certain groups are prone to acts of aggression
B) The excessive monitoring and differential documentation of nurses of colour by hospital administrators
C) New technologies that monitor the interactions that white doctors and nurses have with minority patients in an effort to document racial discrimination in the workplace
D) Measures put in place to increase surveillance in areas where pharmaceutical drugs are stored
E) Policies in the health-care profession aimed at eradicating racism in hospital management

Question 17

Many health care and other human-service practitioners believe they are employing 'cultural sensitivity' when in fact they

A) Are employing anti-racism strategies
B) Are denying clients from minority groups access to certain programs and services
C) Are simply using statistical data to make generalizations about certain groups
D) Are simply engaging in behaviours that are characteristic of an aversive racist
E) Are relying on simplistic racialized and culturalized assumptions that ignore the diversity of experiences within a particular ethnic group

Question 18

Physicians, like judges, commonly attribute violence to cultural groups on the assumption that spousal abuse is normative among these communities. This is an example of ______ racism.

A) Institutional
B) Cognitive
C) Cultural
D) Symbolic
E) Weak racism

Question 19

In the human-services sector, the notion of essentialism suggests

A) That practitioners from the dominant group are 'essentially' unable to deal with allegations of racism unless they are in senior or middle management positions
B) Visible minority clients 'essentially' want to have white health care practitioners work with them
C) The 'essence' of mainstream organizations needs to be dismantled in order to eradicate all forms of oppression
D) There is a particular 'essence' associate with being a Black or Asian client
E) 'essentially' anything is possible

Question 20

A common barrier immigrant women face when seeking mental-health services is ________.

A) Legal status
B) Education
C) Gender
D) Marital status
E) Language

Question 21

A number of discursive strategies are used in social work to resist dealing with racism, including ________ strategies.

A) Decontextualization
B) Apartheid
C) Medicinal
D) Off-loading
E) Marginalization

Question 22

'Dumping' strategies in the human-services sector refers to a discursive strategy employed to resist dealing with racism. This particular strategy places

A) The responsibility for eliminating racism on those who engage in it
B) The responsibility for reporting incidents of racism on managers and supervisors
C) The responsibility for eradicating racism on the shoulders of the victims
D) Emphasis on historical forms of racism rather than contemporary manifestations
E) Members of the dominant culture at the forefront of any anti-racism initiatives

Question 23

The concept of 'universalism' in the context of human services

A) Suggests that Eurocentric ideologies need to be challenged
B) Acknowledges the diversity that exists within certain racial groups
C) Means that the white, dominant culture is best equipped to deal with social problems
D) Assumes that people are essentially the same - that members of any ethno-racial group have similar problems, needs and goals
E) Advocates for more of an international presence in the field of social work

Question 24

Which strategy often used in the human services sector to deny the existence of racism focuses on individual interventions, that is, on helping individuals assimilate or adapt to their oppression?

A) Patronizing approaches
B) Discourse of Binary Polarization
C) Cultural awareness programming
D) Denial strategies
E) Decontextualization strategies

Question 25

When it comes to mental health issues facing the Black community, some scholars have argued

A) That most of it is a direct result of white racism
B) Many of the diagnoses are not listed in the conventional diagnostic manuals
C) That moving to a country where people of colour are the majority group minimizes mental health concerns
D) The need for an Africentric model of mental health therapy
E) That white practitioners often think that Black clients exaggerate behaviours so that they could continue receiving financial assistance from the state
True & False Questions:

Question 26

In the context of human-service practitioners, few undergraduate and postgraduate educational programs provide the knowledge and skills necessary for social workers, doctors, nurses and other human-service professionals to confront racism in the field.

Question 27

An analysis of social work literature, including most of the major academic journals in the field, revealed that racism is deeply embedded in the theoretical and ideological frameworks underlying the practice of social work.

Question 28

The lack of information that minority clients receive about services that are provided by mainstream agencies represents one of the many barriers they experience accessing health and social services.

Question 29

In the social work profession, recent studies have found that because of the high demand for minority practitioners, Black and Asian social-work graduates are not getting the best paying jobs in the field, but that they are often finding employment immediately after completing their degree requirements.

Question 30

Due to the recent emphasis on 'cultural sensitivity' training in universities, people of colour who are professionals working in human service organizations no longer confront biases, barriers, or conflicts in their work environments.

Question 31

In the human-services sector, 'dumping' strategies often rely on placing the responsibility for identifying forms of racism on the shoulders of minority practitioners in administrative positions.

Question 32

Although the centrality of the individual is an indispensable foundation of social work in Western societies, it is for some minorities an incomprehensible concept.

Question 33

Denial strategies that are employed in the human services sector are based on the idea that cultural, institutional, and systemic forms of racism exist in the delivery of programs and services.

Question 34

In many human service organizations, the responsibility for change is often delegated to the front-line worker.

Question 35

Decontextualization strategies acknowledge the presence of racism "out there" in the external environment, but "not in here".