My Thoughts: Implicit Bias and Cultural Responsive Care in OT

    Implicit bias is something that all people have but it can be hard to accept or understand. According to Alexis McGill Johnson, it can be defined as a negative stereotype that is automatic, it has been rooted in our brain overtime. They are usually associations we make about groups of people with specific characters. After learning about my own personal implicit bias, I can be more aware in my everyday life on how to re-frame my thinking and the way I see certain groups of people. Something that I learned is that there are so many different implicit biases it is not just on groups with different physical appearances it can be groups with a different sexual orientation, gender identity or a different financial status.

    I think knowing about my own implicit biases will help me be a better OT practitioner. Every day, occupational therapists encounter and treat a wide variety of clients who all look different, come from different cultures, have different beliefs, etc. Having cultural competence is also very important to being an excellent occupational therapist. Being culturally competent is when someone is able to be sensitive to cultures of other people (O’Brien, 42).  The therapist will be able to better advocate for the client and improve occupational justice around the globe. From this education, my goal for myself is to take a better look into more implicit biases that I have and provide culturally responsive care to all my future clients.

 

 

References:

O'Brien, J. C., & Hussey, S. M. (2018). In Introduction to occupational therapy (pp. 40–48). Elsevier.

 https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/04/19/604070231/a-lesson-in-how-to-overcome-implicit-bias