My Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar

My Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
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Abstract
Inmates experience various behavioral issues that contribute to violence towards other inmates as well as prison staff. My vision is to become an applied behavior specialist working in a prison setting to help address behavioral issues among inmates, thus ensuring their safety and that of prison staff. This will be achieved through my role as a multicultural psychology practitioner-scholar. A multicultural psychology practitioner-scholar incorporates current knowledge and scientific research in their practice. Through this role, I will be able to address the behavioral issues of a diverse prison population and promote safety in the prison system.
My Vision as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
I have always been curious about people, their behavior, and how it is influenced by their environment. This is what attracted me to the field of psychology because I want to understand human behavior and figure out how people in different situations behave. I have experience working at a level 5 prison and this has exposed me to different behaviors among inmates. Seeing violent behaviors among inmates firsthand has influenced me and has led me to psychology because I want to understand how prisoners interact with the prison environment and how this influences their behavior. I am more specifically interested in behavior analysis psychology because my career plan is to become an Applied Behavior Specialist. As Hausam et al. (2020) indicate, incorporating behavioral assessments into risk assessment can help in risk monitoring in the prison setting because it allows for a deeper insight into inmate behavior. Once we understand inmate behavior, it becomes easier to manage violence and disturbances within the prison. My interest in behavioral psychology is important because it will help me understand violent behaviors and ultimately, allow me to better manage people with violent tendencies.
Role as a Multicultural Practitioner-Scholar
It is becoming increasingly important for practitioners in psychology as well as other fields to merge scholarship and practice in their role. One model that encourages the connection between scholarship and practice is McClintock’s scholar-practitioner model. The model encourages professionals to not only apply theory in their practice but to also incorporate research to bridge the gap between practice and research (Streitwieser & Ogden, 2016). With this model, the use of theory and knowledge in practice is not enough; professionals need to go further and use scientific research and evidence in their practice. The goal of a scholar is to use research to advance scientific knowledge and contribute to the existing literature while the goal of a practitioner is to apply knowledge and experience in their respective field to create change (Ellwood, 2018). As such, a scholar-practitioner combines the two goals to ensure they not only apply current knowledge and experience to their practice but also co...