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Graduate Student Journal of Psychology                                                                            Copyright 2008 by the Department of Counseling & Clinical Psychology

2008, Vol. 10                                                                                                                       Teachers College, Columbia University                         ISSN 1088-4661

Outcome of a Spanish Immersion Pilot Workshop for
Psychology Professionals and Students

Tina M. Rose
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Jamie E. Brass
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Kimberlee D. DeRushia
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Latino individuals constitute 14.4% of the U.S. population and are projected to reach 20% of the popu-
lation by 2010. With this rise in population, more culturally and linguistically proficient health profes-
sionals are needed. In response to this need, the Spanish-Language Immersion and Cultural Competence
Pilot Workshop was developed. This workshop provided participants intensive Spanish language train-
ing and presentations on aspects of the Latino culture that are particularly relevant to mental health pro-

fessionals. Participants in the workshop completed a pre- and post-test questionnaire on their experi-
ences, knowledge, and attitudes about Spanish language and Latino culture. Analysis of these question-
naires revealed that participants’ attitudes and knowledge of Spanish and Latino culture were signifi-
cantly different after the workshop.

The Latino population currently represents the largest

minority group in the United States, consisting of approxi-

mately 42.7 million individuals, or 14.4% of the total popu-

lation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). The term Latino is an

amalgam used by the U.S. Census Bureau to indicate indi-
viduals of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South American,

or Central American descent (Grieco & Cassidy, 2001). The

Latino population is estimated to be the fastest growing sub-

population in the U.S. with a 3.3% increase from 2004 to

2005 and a projected growth to 20% of the total population

by 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006; U.S. Census Bureau

News, 2006). As the Latino population increases, it is likely

that a corresponding increase in mental health professionals

with cultural competency to work with this group will be

needed. Although this group is currently most populous in

southern and coastal states, it appears that, with growing
immigration rates, emigration to other areas of the U.S. may

also increase.

As Latino individuals move into areas that are not cur-

rently heavily populated by this group, such as rural and

northern  areas  of  the U.S. (Bender & Harlan, 2005), it will

Tina M. Rose, Jamie E. Brass, and Kimberlee D. DeRushia,
graduate students in the Department of Psychology at Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, would like to thank the Center for
Applied Psychology and Dr. Husenits of the Department of Psy-
chology for the support and encouragement in conducting the
workshop.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Tina M. Rose at 220 Uhler Hall, Indiana University of Pennsylva-
nia, Indiana, PA 15705.

become important to provide health professionals in a vari-

ety of fields with the tools necessary to serve this popula-

tion.

Recent articles in the literature indicate that 50% of La-

tino individuals who seek mental health services do not
return after the initial visit (Dingfelder, 2005) and 88% of

Latino children currently in need of help do not receive

mental health services (Stamor, 2006). Research suggests

that the ability of consumers to clarify their thoughts and

meaning (Guttfreund, 1990), utilize familiar phrases such as

Spanish dichos (Zuniga, 1992), and provide rich emotional

expression (Santiago-Rivera, 1995) in their native language

may enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic services,

resulting in a greater retention rate for mental health serv-

ices. Additionally, Arrendondo (1991) recommends that

counselors should have a working knowledge of Latino
culture and the social, economic, political, and historical

influences on the consumer and consumer’s family devel-

opment.

In order to investigate the needs and preferences of the

consumer, Fraga, Atkinson, and Wampold (2004) surveyed

Asian American, European American, and Hispanic under-

graduate students using paired comparison questionnaires

that assessed domains of multicultural competencies estab-

lished by Sue, Arrendondo, and McDavis (1992). The re-

sults of the investigation indicated that the respondents

preferred some multicultural competencies over others.
Some of the variation in the preference may be attributed to

self-reported ethnic identity (Fraga et al., 2004). Hispanic

respondents indicated a preference for multicultural com-

petencies in the domain of understanding sociopolitical



ROSE, BRASS & DERUSHIA

16

factors that impact ethnic minorities and the impact of race

and culture on the consumer and services rendered.

Training that addresses cultural competence and lan-

guage proficiency is one of the most important avenues to

providing the tools necessary to work effectively with all

minority populations, but particularly with Latino popula-

tions (Bender, Clawson, Harlan, & Lopez, 2004; Biever, et

al., 2004; Williams, 2005). A needs assessment conducted
by Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas

revealed that formal training consisting of 16 training ses-

sions over a period spanning from 4 weeks of intensive in-

person training to 3 years of online training might be the

best method to meet the needs of the students and profes-

sionals in the area (Biever, et al., 2002). Biever and col-

leagues (2004) conducted a series of investigations sur-

rounding the training needs of mental health professionals

and found courses that covered bilingual (Spanish/English)

assessment and therapy in addition to courses in cultural

variables would be most helpful. Moreover, the participants

in this assessment indicated that the translation of technical
words, such as those found on a typical psychological intake

report, is one of the most difficult aspects of providing

adequate services to bilingual (Spanish/English) consumers

(Biever et al., 2004). Although the studies by Biever and

colleagues (2002; 2004) point to the utility of formal train-

ing methods to provide professionals with the necessary

tools to provide effective services, formal training may not

be feasible in all locations because of the time and cost

associated with it. Hence, workshops that condense training

into smaller segments of time may be an alternate avenue to

provide a balance between the constraints of time and cost
and the need for training in cultural competency.

In general, workshops appear to be a promising form of

education with positive results in the literature for training

medical students (Liddell, Davidson, Taub, & Whitecross,

2002), providing mental health professionals with basic

skills such as motivational techniques (DeViva, 2006), and

providing psychoeducation (Foley et al., 2006; Hays &

Katchen, 2006). Liddell and colleagues (2002) concluded

that with medical students in Australia, a 3-hour tutorial

provided in the third year of medical training increased

participants’ competency in performing certain procedures

(e.g., suturing) in the fifth year. The medical students in the
experimental group participated in a practical skills work-

shop where they observed live and video demonstrations of

procedural skills and were able to practice the basic proce-

dural skills (e.g., giving an injection, suturing) on a model.

Participants were given feedback on their performance of

those skills and additional instruction if necessary, leading

to the increased competency seen in the fifth year (Liddell et

al., 2002).

DeViva (2006) explored the efficacy of a workshop de-

signed to provide health care professionals in clinical psy-

chology, counseling psychology, social work, medicine, and
nursing fields with techniques to enhance motivation in

resistant or ambivalent consumers presenting with a variety

issues (e.g., substance use, obesity). The participants of the

workshop included both graduate students in training and

practicing professionals holding a post-baccalaureate de-

gree. DeViva (2006) varied the length of the workshop (i.e.,

6-hour versus 3-hour). Participants were randomly assigned

to the workshop length, except for two cases in which

scheduling conflict occurred (DeViva, 2006). The 6-hour

workshop included more examples, elaboration of concepts,

and practice time than the 3-hour workshop. Otherwise, the
same didactic information (e.g., research and theory on

resistance and ambivalence, five motivational themes) was

presented and practiced in both the long and short work-

shops. Pre- and post-analogue role-plays were used to assess

participants’ skills. The results of the study indicated that

participants in both the long and short workshops increased

in workshop-consistent behavior, suggesting that the profes-

sionals increased their motivational skills when interviewing

resistant or ambivalent consumers (DeViva, 2006).

Williams (2005) investigated the effect of an interven-

tion workshop designed to increase cultural competency for

social workers. The workshop took place over 4 weeks.
Participants were provided with didactic instruction (i.e.,

lectures, discussions, analyses of case studies and videos)

and role-playing opportunities on multicultural concepts

(e.g., influence of worldviews, acculturation theory, power

and privilege in the helping relationship) during a weekly 3-

hour workshop. The author evaluated several outcomes

(e.g., multicultural awareness, knowledge, skills, and ability

to identify and integrate salient multicultural factors in a

case conceptualization) with an intervention group and a

comparison group using quantitative and qualitative analy-

ses. The comparison group participated in cultural activities
(e.g., exposure to print and poster materials, participation in

activities to develop more sensitivity to diversity at an

organization) but did not participate in workshop activities.

The quantitative results of the study indicated that both the

intervention and control groups improved on scores of

multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills; with work-

shop participants scoring significantly better on outcomes of

multicultural awareness than the comparison group. Thus,

mere exposure to another culture may improve cultural

competency. Moreover, racial minority status contributed to

higher ratings on the multicultural case conceptualizations at

both pretest and posttest (Williams, 2005). Qualitative
results provided evidence that the workshop was beneficial

to participants and provided a safe learning environment

that was supportive for workshop participants. These results

suggest that personal experiences and didactic instruction

play an important role in increasing cultural competence

(Williams, 2005).

An important finding in the research is that workshops

that utilize an immersion format when providing training of

the Spanish language produce effective results (Bender et

al., 2004). Immersion formats are successful because they

require participants to engage with the language that they
are learning via multiple formats, such as having all lessons

conducted in that language and having participants speak to

each other only using the language the are learning. Re-



OUTCOME OF A SPANISH IMMERSION WORKSHOP

17

searchers examined immediate and one-year outcomes of a

workshop designed to provide language training for health

professionals. Outcomes were assessed via employee, co-

worker, and employer evaluations of workshop participants.

The results of the analysis revealed that, from the percep-

tions of the employee, employer, and coworker, language

skills and cultural competency were improved, as was qual-

ity of care for immigrants (Bender et al., 2004). An impor-

tant finding was that participants continued to pursue ave-

nues to maintain and promote personal language compe-

tency (e.g., listening to audio tapes, reading Spanish lan-
guage health newsletters, continued use of Spanish language

with family and coworkers) at the one-year follow up

(Bender et al., 2004).

The research literature on workshops, both in general

and specifically for language and cultural competency skills

training, suggests that workshops have potential to service a

wide range of professionals in various locations, allowing

them to reach individuals from around the country (Bender

et al., 2004). Given the positive results presented in the

literature, workshops appear to be a successful form of

training that could be adapted and implemented in a variety
of areas, including Spanish language and cultural compe-

tency.

An Assessment of Need

In 2005, a clinical psychology doctoral program at a ru-

ral western Pennsylvania university began to see an increase

in the number of requests for assessment and therapy for

consumers who spoke Spanish as their primary language. In

light of the census data suggesting an increase in Latino and

Spanish speaking populations, the need for a workshop to

provide training in Spanish language skills and general
Latino cultural competency was assessed. The needs as-

sessment indicated that respondents, including professors

and graduate students in mental health fields, saw a benefit

to speaking Spanish, and had worked with Latino consum-

ers in a professional capacity. Additionally, respondents felt

that they would personally and professionally benefit from

additional cultural competency training (Brass, 2006). Over

50% of the respondents indicated a desire to receive Spanish

language training, but expressed a reluctance to devote more

than one weekend and over $200 for the training (Brass,

2006). Given these results, the Spanish-Language Immer-
sion and Culture Competency Pilot Workshop (SLICC) was

developed. The SLICC workshop included elements such as

Spanish language lessons and cultural presentations that

covered topics such as dispelling common Latin myths,

working with interpreters in the therapy room, and under-

standing barriers to seeking help. Activities that have re-

ceived previous research attention (Bender et al., 2004) such

as role plays and time for participants to practice their lan-

guage training with each other were implemented in an

effort to optimize the time of the interested participants

while acknowledging the time intensive nature of the types

of training that are needed to gain skills in an additional

language and in cultural competency.

Designing the Pilot Program

The SLICC Workshop was designed and conducted as a

pilot program in order to bring awareness of the need for

training, to investigate the desire of participants to engage in

longer training, and to test methods of providing informa-

tion effectively with the intention of potentially developing

a longer, more intensive training program. Over the course
of a 3-day weekend, the SLICC workshop addressed the

overarching goal of supplying mental health care profes-

sionals with cultural and linguistic competency training.

Table 1 presents the schedule for the workshop and demon-

strates how presentations on cultural competency were

interwoven with language instruction.

Table 1

Schedule for SLICC Workshop

Day Time Activity

Noon-1:00 Registration
1:00-4:00 Language block 1
4:00-4:30 Break

Fri

4:30-5:30 Presentation choice

8:30-11:30 Language block 2

11:30-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Presentation choice
2:15-5:15 Language block 3

Sat

5:30-6:30 Presentation choice

Sun 8:00-8:30 Breakfast & Language Practice
8:30-11:30 Language block 4
12:00-1:00 Presentation choice

1:00-1:30 Wrap-up

The main goal of the language immersion section of the
workshop was to provide an introduction or broadening of

language abilities for mental health professionals. This goal

included increasing familiarity with the Spanish language,

particularly with emotionally expressive words, psychologi-

cal oriented words (such as those typically found on a psy-

chological intake evaluation), and inquires about the need

for translators from the consumer. Each participant was

provided with 12 hours of instruction in basic or intermedi-

ate level Spanish. In order to keep costs low for the pilot

program, instructors were recruited through the Spanish

Department at the university. Each instructor was an ad-
vanced undergraduate student who had traveled abroad for

at least one semester to a Spanish speaking country and had

taught elementary school Spanish as part of his or her de-

gree requirements. Many of the instructors were double

majors in Spanish and Education or Spanish and Psychology

and expressed an interest in furthering their teaching skills.



ROSE, BRASS & DERUSHIA

18

Instructors were compensated for their time through a

CEMMRAT grant.

Placement into the basic and intermediate language

training groups was based on the Spanish language experi-

ence of the participant. Most of the participants at the work-

shop reported that they had only basic experience with the

Spanish language, spanning from no Spanish language

experience at all to having taken a course in high school
many years previously. Participants in the basic level were

divided into groups of three or four based on their self-

reported level of Spanish exposure. This resulted in several

small groups that were able to focus at the level of learning

that best suited the participants. Only five of the participants

requested intermediate language training. To ensure that

participants in the intermediate level were all at the same

level of experience, they were presented with a set of 18

oral Spanish questions addressing a variety of intermediate

topics such as ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy? and ¿Qué estás haci-

endo ahora?

Throughout the course of the workshop, the basic Span-
ish language instructors focused on providing participants

with the ability to introduce themselves to a Spanish speak-

ing consumer and to be able to ask and answer basic ques-

tions such as the name of the consumer, basic contact in-

formation, the nature of the problem, and if they would like

translator services to be provided. The intermediate Spanish

language instructors focused on teaching participants to

conduct a psychological intake evaluation in Spanish and

incorporate the use of emotionally laden words and topics.

For the cultural competency aspect of the SLICC work-

shop, the main goal was to provide culturally specific in-
formation and training to participants through the use of

presentations. To solicit presentations, a general call for

presentations was sent to local mental health professionals

and graduate students. In response to this request, the work-

shop was able to offer 10 different presentations to partici-

pants. This resulted with several choices in each time slot.

Participants were able to select the topics that best met their

needs. The topics of the presentations included the use of a

translator in mental health settings, the implications of the

holiday Los Dias de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) for

grief work, specific concerns for clinicians working with

Latino populations, and dispelling myths associated with the
Latino culture. Ancillary goals included provision of other

basic information (e.g., the growth rate of the Latino popu-

lation) and coverage of a breadth of material to maximize

time and training for workshop participants. At the end of

the workshop a 30-minute “wrap-up” session was held to

gauge participant reactions to the workshop and discuss how

future workshops could be improved.

Measuring the Outcome

Although the utility of Spanish language training pro-
grams has been investigated previously, more information is

needed to determine the optimal way to provide this train-

ing. Additionally, it was the authors’ experience that in rural

Pennsylvania, it is difficult to find training for mental health

professionals who speak no Spanish but would like to learn

the language and become linguistically competent. It was

with these two goals in mind that the current study was

conducted with the intention of gathering information about

the utility of the SLICC workshop. Thehe authors imple-

mented a utilization-focused outcome approach to assess the

SLICC workshop. This approach focuses on real world
application of information that is being evaluated (Patton,

1997), or in the case of the SLICC workshop, how partici-

pants will be able to apply the knowledge they gained over

the course of the workshop to their everyday experience in

mental health settings (Patton, 2002). The purpose of this

study was to gather information for use in the development

of future programs and as such, no formal hypotheses were

made. The target population was mental health professionals

with the outcomes defined as increased knowledge of Latino

culture and increased awareness concerning how to provide

adequate mental health services for individuals of a Latino

background. Indicators of this outcome were assessed via
self-report measures designed for the study. The remainder

of this article outlines the outcome evaluation of the SLICC

workshop, discusses those elements of the program that

were found useful and those that were not, and provides

feedback on elements that may need to be revised or re-

moved in future training programs of this type. It is hoped

that information gathered during this study can be used to

inform future investigations and workshop development.

Method

Participants

 All individuals registered for the workshop were asked

to participate in the outcome study and were presented with

an informed consent form and the pre-test questionnaire

during the registration phase of the workshop. Of the 20

registered individuals, 10 individuals completed the pre-

workshop measure, but only 7 of those 10 completed the

post-workshop measures. Individuals who completed both

measures were retained for further analyses. The three

participants who did not complete the post-workshop meas-

ure were excluded from the analyses so that the authors
could get a more accurate sense of change related to partici-

pation in the workshop. All participants were working

professionals and graduate students ranging in age from 20-

65 years old. The sample consisted primarily of Caucasian

females, with 71.4 % of the sample identifying as Caucasian

or European-American (n = 5) and 85.7 % of the sample

identifying as female (n = 6). Additionally, African Ameri-

cans (n = 1) and Latinos (n = 1) comprised 14.3% of the

sample, respectively. Graduate students (n = 5) represented

71.4% of the sample and those conducting therapy as a

primary work activity represented 57.1% of the sample (n =
4). The participants indicated that they were from a city (n =

3; 42.9%) or rural area (n = 2; 28.6%). Two respondents

identified as being from a town or suburb. The three partici-



OUTCOME OF A SPANISH IMMERSION WORKSHOP

19

pants who did not complete the post-workshop measure

were not significantly different on any demographic char-

acteristics from the individuals who responded to both

measures.

Measures

A brief questionnaire was designed by the authors to as-

sess demographics as well as pre-workshop experiences,

attitudes, expectations, and skills. The measure consisted of

questions assessing demographics, knowledge of and atti-
tudes towards Latino culture, awareness of need for compe-

tent professionals, and perceptions of workshop effective-

ness. Demographic questions assessed basic characteristics

of the workshop participants (e.g., age, gender, and educa-

tion). Questions to tap prior experiences, skills, and expec-

tations included: “On a daily basis, I work with minority

individuals,” “For work, I interact with Latino individuals,”

and “I believe that this workshop will assist me in my future

work or training.” Possible responses to the questions var-

ied and included yes/no, true/false, multiple choices, or

Likert-scaled options. Examples of items used to tap atti-
tudes towards and knowledge of Latino culture included:

“Latinos are lazy” and “Family is important in Latino cul-

ture.” Two items assessing knowledge of Spanish culture

regions (i.e. “I can name the regions in North America that

have Spanish heritage, including areas in the U.S.), and the

growth of the Latino population (i.e., “Approximately how

large is the Latino population in the United States?”) were

included in the measure and were true/false and multiple-

choice response, respectively. It is notable that the attitudes

portion of the pre- and post-test was derived in part based on

biases and stereotypes of Latinos. Stereotypes were selected

based on a brief search of the Internet for common stereo-
types presented in the popular media concerning Latinos.

Approximately 100 sites were browsed for information on

common stereotypes. Tallies of stereotypes were taken with

the stereotypes mentioned the most retained for the measure.

Given the influence the popular media has on professionals

and laypeople alike, it is judged that the stereotypes re-

peated most frequently in the media may have the most

impact on attitudes towards Latinos. The attitudes formed

about Latinos may impact the working relationship between

the mental health professional and the consumer. Thus, the

stereotypes that were repeated most frequently (e.g., “Lati-

nos are lazy”, “Latinos rarely complete high school or go to

college”) were included in the measure. Items assessing

attitudes toward and knowledge of Latino culture were used

as a proxy to gage self-reported effectiveness of the work-

shop components (e.g., presentations) in providing indi-

viduals with more positive attitudes towards and knowledge

of Latino culture.

Items tapping awareness of need included: “Language

comprehension is important in understanding meaning”,

“The Latino population in the U.S. will grow significantly in

the next 10 years”, “There is a need for mental health pro-

fessionals who have skills to work with minority clients”,

and “Latinos have the same amount of access to mental

health services as other groups.” For all items assessing

attitudes towards and knowledge of Latino culture and

awareness of need for competent professionals, responses

were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly

Disagree to Strongly Agree.

Two composites of the responses were devised with

higher scores indicating more positive attitudes towards and

knowledge of Latino culture and increased awareness of

need for individuals competent to work with Latino indi-

viduals. Appropriate items were reversed scored and all
items included in the composites were summed. The com-

posite assessing attitudes towards and knowledge of Latino

culture included 13 questions with a range of 13 to 60. The

summed composite for the awareness of need included 7

questions and ranged from 7 to 35. Cronbach’s alpha for the

pre-workshop measure was .67. Demographic questions

were omitted from the reliability analysis.

The post-test questionnaire paralleled the pre-test ques-

tionnaire and was designed to assess self-reported compe-

tency level, the benefit of the conference as a whole, aware-

ness of need, and attitudes towards and knowledge of Latino
culture. All items assessing awareness of need and attitudes

towards and knowledge of Latino culture remained the same

for the post-test questionnaire.

The post-test measure also included questions that

tapped respondents’ perceptions of workshop effectiveness

(e.g., “This conference added to my training or experiences

with Latinos,” “I believe that this workshop will assist me in

my future work or training”, “I feel prepared to work more

effectively with Latino/a consumers”). Responses to the

aforementioned questions were limited to true/false options.

Questions assessing the conference as a whole asked the

participant to rate the Spanish classes, cultural presentations,
and conference on a 5-point Likert scale (i.e., Not Beneficial

to Highly Beneficial).

Three composites of the response were devised with

higher scores indicating higher perceived benefits from

workshop andmore positive attitudes toward, knowledge of,

and awareness of need in working with Latino consumers.

Given the questions assessing awareness of need and atti-

tudes toward and knowledge of Latino culture remained the

same across the pre- and post-workshop measure, the same

two composites devised for the pre-workshop measure were

calculated for the post-workshop measure.
An additional composite was calculated to include items

that assessed respondents’ perceptions of the effectiveness

of the workshop and interest in participating in another

workshop. The composite included 8 questions. Four ques-

tions were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (i.e., classes on

Spanish, presentations about Latinos and Latino culture,

practice sessions, conference as a whole). Four questions

were rated as true/false (i.e., “This workshop met my expec-

tations of expanding my knowledge of Latinos.”, “This

conference added to my training or experience with Lati-

nos.”, “I feel prepared to work more effectively with La-

tino/a clients.”, “I would attend another conference on



ROSE, BRASS & DERUSHIA

20

Latinos or other minority groups.”). The composite scores

could range from 8 to 28. Cronbach’s alpha for the post-

workshop measure was .57.

Procedures

All registrants for the Spanish-Language Immersion and

Cultural Competence Pilot Workshop were asked to partici-
pate in the outcome research. Ten respondents completed

the demographic questionnaire and the pre-test question-

naire in a pencil and paper format during the opening ac-

tivities of the workshop. A week following the workshop,

participants were contacted by email through Student Voice,

a web-based survey company, to complete the post-test

survey. The respondents were instructed to disregard the e-

mail if they did not complete the pre-test questionnaire. A

code number that the participants chose for themselves was

used to match pre- and post-test questionnaire responses

while still providing confidentiality for all respondents.

Seven individuals completed the post-workshop measure. It
is unknown why more participants did not complete this

measure, but it is hypothesized that time constraints played

a role.

Results

Responses given by individuals (n = 7) who completed

both the pre-workshop and post-workshop measure were

retained for analyses. Descriptive statistics provided valu-

able information on the characteristics of the sample in-

cluding participants’ experiences with Latino individuals.
Specifically, individuals who completed the measures were

well educated with 71.4% (n = 5) indicating that they have

been studying or working in the field for 3-7 years and

28.6% (n = 2) working for more than 8 years. In general,

many respondents reported that they do not work with

minority individuals on a daily basis (n = 6; 85.7%); how-

ever, the one participant who provided information on

working with diverse populations reported that African-

Americans were the most frequently (n = 1; 5.6%) worked-

with population. When asked if they encountered individu-

als who speak little or no English, most participants indi-

cated that they typically do not encounter these individuals,
with only 42.9% (n = 3) saying that they have encountered

non-English speaking individuals in their work. When

respondents encountered individuals whose primary lan-

guage was not English, the languages spoken by the other

individuals were identified as Chinese (n = 1; 5.6%) or

Spanish (n = 1; 5.6%). More specific to our interests, only

28.6% of respondents (n = 2) reported that they interact with

Latino individuals on a daily basis, with individuals report-

ing that the Latino individuals with whom they interacted

are primarily from Mexico. One-third of respondents indi-

cated that they have had little or no training in working with
Latino individuals prior to this workshop. Prior to beginning

workshop activities, all respondents expressed a belief that

participating in the workshop would be beneficial to them.

Preliminary data, in the form of anecdotal evidence pro-

vided to the authors during the wrap-up portion of the work-

shop, suggested that the pilot workshop was successful.

Participants stated that through the cultural competency

sections of the workshop, they had gained knowledge con-

cerning aspects of Latino culture and that they felt better

prepared to work with Latino clients in their mental health

settings.
Parametric tests were initially explored for analysis of

the data. Although the normal probability p-plot suggested

that normality was achieved, the small sample size leads the

researchers to question whether the assumption of normality

was met for the parametric test. Thus, a Wilcoxon signed-

rank test was used to investigate differences between pre-

and post- workshop attitudes towards and knowledge of

Latino culture and awareness of need. The Wilcoxon

signed-ranked test looks at change for one group of subjects

measured on two different occasions (Pallant, 2005). Differ-

ences are classified as positive, negative, or tied. The Wil-

coxon signed-rank test considers information about both the
sign of the differences and the magnitude of the differences

between pairs. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test incorporates

more information about the data; hence, it is more powerful

than the sign test.

The pre-workshop composite, attitudes towards and

knowledge of Latino culture, was paired with the post-

workshop composite. The pre-workshop composite, aware-

ness of need, was paired with the post-workshop composite.

The results of the analysis indicated that the workshop did

lead to some change in attitudes towards and knowledge of

Latino culture (Z = -2.226, p < .05), but not awareness of
need. An examination of the composite scores for each

individual indicated that six individuals reported gaining

more knowledge and positive attitudes about Latinos. One

individual reported no change in knowledge or attitudes

about Latinos.

In order to investigate how beneficial the workshop

elements were a composite score of the workshop ratings

was devised based on the sum of appropriate workshop

related items (e.g., classes on Spanish, presentations, work-

shop as a whole). The scale ranged from 8-28 with higher

scores indicating more beneficial ratings of the workshop

elements. The mean of this scale (M = 25.4, SD  = 2.70)
indicated that participants found the elements of the work-

shop beneficial and felt that the training received at the

workshop would assist them in working effectively with

Latino consumers in the future. All elements of the work-

shop (i.e., classes, presentations) were rated as beneficial

with no rating mean below a 4 on a 5-point Likert scale.

Moreover, the respondents revealed that they believed that

the workshop met their expectations and that they would

attend another, similar, workshop in the future.

Discussion

The results of the analysis indicated that the SLICC

workshop was effective in providing mental health profes-



OUTCOME OF A SPANISH IMMERSION WORKSHOP

21

sionals and students with some of the skills necessary to

work effectively with Latino and/or Spanish-speaking con-

sumers. Given participants in the workshop volunteered for

the workshop, the lack of significant difference on measures

of awareness of need may suggest the sample was already

aware of the need for individuals competent to work with

Latino individuals. Although the sample was small, the

preliminary data provided by the respondents can be used to

assist in designing future workshops and trainings of this

nature. The preliminary data suggests that all of the ele-

ments of the workshop were beneficial, thus, all elements
outlined should be retained, and likely expanded, in future

trainings. In addition to the elements included in the pilot

workshop, the authors recommend that other interested

individuals or groups consider including practice sessions,

guided by bilingual individuals or individuals skilled in

working with Latino populations, in any workshops that are

developed. We believe that such practice sessions will allow

participants to gain hands-on experience in utilizing the

skills learned in other aspects of the workshop. Previous

training models that included application of Spanish lan-

guage skills contributed to participants’ reports of an in-
creased sense of competency in using Spanish language

interventions (Biever et al., 2002).

The results of the SLICC workshop are consistent with

prior literature on the effectiveness of workshops in ad-

dressing goals of increased cultural competency (e.g.,

Bender et al., 2004; Bender & Harlan, 2005; Williams,

2005). This suggests that some skills in language and cul-

tural competence can be gained in a short-term training

program. Furthermore, although not formally evaluated, it is

possible that participation in a workshop of this nature may

fuel participants’ desire to learn more, encouraging them to

seek out other training opportunities in language and in
cultural competence, a hypothesis which, if found to be true,

would help to overcome limitations of learning language in

a short-term training.

The evaluation of the SLICC workshop faced several

limitations. Most notably, the low number of participants

that chose to participate in the outcome study resulted in a

small sample size, making definite inferences difficult. In

addition to a small sample size, the high face validity of the

assessment instrument meant that if they so chose, the re-

spondents were able to rate both the workshop and their

own personal attitudes in a manner consist with politically
correct viewpoints, rather than according to their actual

experiences or beliefs. Moreover, the design of the study

lends itself to several internal validity threats. The lack of

readily available measures designed to test the efficacy of a

short-term language immersion workshop resulted in the

necessity of using a measure without previously established

reliability and validity guidelines. The ability to confidently

measure the competency of participants both pre- and post-

test in a non-face valid way would increase the validity of

the results. The effect of the pre-test could have impacted

the post-test such that results suggest familiarity with the

questions rather than any change brought about by partici-

pation in the conference. However, Patton (1997) suggests

that pretests may prime learning while a posttest may rein-

force learning. Thus, it is unclear whether the pre- and post-

measures were influenced by familiarity or enhanced learn-

ing. Furthermore, with only one dependent measure it is

difficult to account for other effects that could have pro-

duced the same results (e.g., familiarity with measure or

regression to the mean). The addition of a control group and

several dependent measures when designing future trainings

may help to attenuate these effects.

Regardless of potential limitations, the preliminary re-
sults of this study suggest that further development and

assessment of language and cultural competence workshops

is warranted. As the rate of immigration and bilingualism

increases in the U.S,. more professionals may be called

upon to work with consumers who are not familiar with the

English language or with the culture of the U.S. An under-

standing of the specific concerns facing these types of

populations may be crucial in the future, and developing

workshops such as the pilot program described here may

become an increasingly important training aspect.

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