Cultural Competencies of Park and Recreation Professionals: A Case Study of North Carolina
Keywords:
cultural competency, multiculturalism, diversity.Abstract
The U.S. is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. In order for parks and recreation professionals to serve their changing communities effectively, professionals must increase their levels of cultural competence. A culturally competent workforce can prevent the underutilization and premature termination of services. To date, cultural competency of professionals only has been measured among therapeutic recreation professionals. Utilizing Wheeler’s Education and Training Model (1994), this preliminary study was designed to measure the culturally related knowledge, awareness, and skills of park and recreation professionals in North Carolina.
Wheeler proposed that there are four levels of competence ranging from being “unconsciously incompetent” to “unconsciously competent” with regard to diversity issues. Participants in this study demonstrated a relatively high level of cultural competency in the areas of awareness and knowledge but dropped off when respondents were asked about specific skills (e.g., language), suggesting that participants fell between the “consciously incompetent” to “consciously competent” levels of Wheeler’s model. Also, significant differences in competency levels were found between men and women, whites and non-whites, certified and noncertified, and those who had and had not received diversity training in the past 12 months, as well as by education and management levels. The overall findings suggest that parks and recreation professionals perceive themselves as possessing acceptable levels of cultural awareness and knowledge, but not necessarily the specific cultural skills needed to serve culturally diverse consumers. Therefore, results from this sample support Wheeler’s hierarchical model of cultural diversity and support labeling the sampled professionals as falling between the “consciously incompetent” and the “consciously competent” levels. Implications include the necessity of providing diversity skill training programs, and focusing diversity practices on dimensions other than just race, including issues such as gender, disability status of participants, and sexual orientation. Recommendations include, but are not limited to, utilizing culturally sensitive flyers and brochures, offering diversity in program supervision, and increasing the dedication of upper management personnel to increasing cultural competency.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)
Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors
PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.
I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Park and Recreation Administration to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).
THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT
Assignment of Copyright
I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.
Reversion of Rights
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.
Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes
I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.
All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact gbates@sagamorepub.com for further information.
In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.
Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.
Author Representations
- The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
- The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
- The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
- I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
- If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.