Asian Indians is one of the most affluent and influential group in the United States today. The current generation of Asian Indians continue to build on their parents’ footprint in American society – a legacy of ambition and hard work. Their success is due to strict adherence of generational family values, centered on patriarchal and hierarchal structures in the home while following gender roles in the Asian Indian community at large. Asian Indians are attaining the highest degrees, from medicine to business, at top colleges and universities. They hold high offices and positions at leading industries. Success, however, comes with a price for many, when east meets west, in regard to cultural expectations. Females must be subservient to her husband, while expected to be the nurturer for the children, maintaining the home and attaining a prestigious career. This paper will examine the different cross generational conflicts and mental health struggles Asian Indian women face in American society today. This paper will propose best practices in counseling that can find common grounds for women from this group to exercise American culture while preserving their Asian Indian heritage.
Keep in mind, that each section below must be based on your research from journal articles (not blogs, newspaper articles, books, or book reviews). There should be citations in each section of the body of your paper. Do not use first person pronouns (I/we/me/my/myself, for example) as research papers are not based on opinion or personal perspective. While you can use our course textbook as an additional source, do not rely too heavily on it, as the majority of your paper should be based on current research from journal articles.
Cultural Awareness:
In the first section, include recent research on the topic and culture. Give recent statistics (prevalence rates, information on geographic or population clusters). Aim to include what is important for colleagues to know to best work with this population to meet the specific need you are researching. Some examples of information to explore here include: family dynamics (child-rearing practices, parental roles, obligations of children to parents, nature of relationships among family members, kinship bonds, gender roles, aging, extended family, clan, role of elders, tribal councils, etc.); political and economic concerns (poverty and income levels, value of education, unemployment, reservations/Bureau of Indian Affairs, immigration, etc.); communication (bilingualism, nonverbal/body language, personal space, problem-solving, silence, eye movement, music/dance/art as communication, concept of time). 3-4 pages
Counseling Approach:
In the second section, identify specific strategies and approaches to use with this population to address the needs explored in the previous section. Have you ever gone to a conference where the presenter spent the entire time talking about what the problem was, and you thought to yourself, now what? This section is just as important as the previous section. Devote equal space to researching and explaining strategies, approaches, and methods for meeting the need. Identify specific counseling therapies and techniques that you believe would work best with this population, explaining why and how you would use this approach. Some examples of popular counseling therapies include existential therapy, behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, rational emotive behavior-therapy, reality therapy, family systems theory, solution-focused therapy, narrative therapy, and creative arts therapies. Write about in this section or consider how you could adapt Western-based approaches. You may want to search for culture AND counseling; for example, Latin Americans AND counseling. 3-4 pages
Religious and Spiritual Application:
In the final section, give biblical application to the topic you have been examining. Specifically examine counseling, life coaching, and/or human services from a faith-based approach. For example, if your paper looked at substance abuse, explore research on faith-based programs, and discuss why this would be meaningful for the culture you are focusing on. Explore the unique beliefs, values, ways of thinking, and expressing faith, religion, and spirituality in the culture you are researching. What is typically viewed as the role of the church for this culture? What is the common view of life after death? 1 page
Conclusion
End with a concise Conclusion paragraph where you summarize what you covered in the paper and include ideas for future research needed on this topic. ½ page
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