CMHD

Reducing Microaggressions & Promoting Racial Harmony

Cultural Cognitions & Actions Scale (CCAS) Validation Study

Microaggressions, or brief, everyday exchanges that communicate denigrating messages, are often the primary source of racist experiences for people of color. Often referred to as "everyday racism," they are a major source of stress in daily life and also are a barrier to mental health care. Their prevalence and impact on the wellbeing of people of color make microaggressions an important target for research and intervention.

While there have been several measures developed to assess the impact of microaggressions on the victim, no measures have attempted to determine the likelihood of committing microaggressions from the perspective of a potential perpetrator. The Cultural Cognitions & Actions Scale (CCAS) was designed to do just that, using scenarios where students have told us microaggressions are likely to occur. The CCAS has been developed and validated at three universities: University of Connecticut, University of Washington, and Bastyr Medical School. The CCAS has many uses, one important use being for the evaluation of diversity interventions intended to reduce tendencies to microaggress.

Examples of microaggressions categories from our student research.

Racial Harmony Workshop Study

College is an important time for young adults to develop necessary skills in interacting with people of a different race or ethnicity. Microaggressions are often a primary source of racist experiences for minority college students, who report that they experience them on a day-to-day basis. Due to their prevalent nature, microaggressions have become a target for intervention to reduce racial tensions and enhance the quality of life of minority students on college campuses.

Many college campus have attempted to address the prevalence of racist experiences and microaggressions on campus through required diversity workshops. Many of these workshops, however, lack any scientific foundation or evidence of positive outcomes. The objective of the Racial Harmony Workshop study, is to design, administer, and evaluate a workshop-style intervention for the reduction of racial microaggressions using behavioral science principles. The workshop was developed based on social-cognitive theories on prejudice reduction, such as the contact hypothesis, a clinical behavioral science approach to effective training and behavior change, and from research on cross-group friendships and social connection.

We piloted the Racial Harmony Workshop (RHW) and then conducted the workshop for college students in experimental and control conditions at the University of Connecticut. The results were very exciting. Students in the RHW intervention showed increased liking across race. White studens decreased their tendency to commit microaggressions and Black students increased their sense of positive ethnic identity.

Publication

Williams, M. T., Kanter, J. W., Peña, A., Ching, T. W. C., & Oshin, L. (2020). Reducing microaggressions and promoting interracial connection: The Racial Harmony Workshop. Journal of Contextual and Behavioral Science, 16, 153-161. doi: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.04.008

Improving Health Care

Another study we conducted evaluated microaggressions from patient-providers towards BIPOC patients through racially-charged interactions in order to improve provider communication and rapport with them during medical encounters. A sample of medical students and graduate participants (N=25) were distributed into two groups for a workshop exercises; one with intervention to prevent microaggressions and biases towards BIPOC patients and one without. Providers who did experience the microaggression intervention exercises had improved attitudes and perceptions during interactions with BIPOC patients. This alone has the potential to build a strong emotional rapport and decrease microaggressive acts. The racial disparities within the quality of health care in this country are alarmingly large due to microaggressions and racial prejudice. Therefore with intervention, these disparities may decrease and get BIPOC patients the proper health care they need in a comfortable, safe, environment.

Publication

Kanter, J. W., Rosen, D. C., Manbeck, K. E., Branstetter, H., Kuczynski, A., Corey, M. D., Maitland, D., & Williams, M. T. (2020). Addressing microaggressions in racially charged patient-provider interactions: A pilot randomized trial. BMC Medical Education, 20(88), 1-14. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02004-9

Imagining a better world

In the Media

Innovative Approches to Reducing Racism

Grant-Funded Study from the American Psychological Foundation

Racial inequalities have been documented as the primary cause of differences in quality of life between Black and White individuals. While continued efforts at reform are important, the next great battlefront in the war on racism is psychological and cannot be successfully addressed through legislation. One critical form of contemporary racism is the experience of microaggressions: brief, everyday exchanges, in the form of seemingly innocent and innocuous comments, and subtle or dismissive gestures and tones that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a minority group. Minority college students cite microaggressions as the primary source of racist experiences on a day-to-day, campus-life basis, and microaggressions are also a major source of stress among minority faculty. Microaggressions in mental health settings are a cause of poor therapeutic alliance and drop-out, representing a barrier to treatment for people of color. Repeated exposure to microaggressions can cause psychological unwellness and even trauma symptoms in victims. Thus increasing awareness of microaggressions, and how to address the problem, is the topic of this program of research.

Components of our Project

  1. Developing a Measure of Microaggressions: African American Focus Groups
  2. Documenting the Relationship between Microaggressions and Racism: Survey Study
  3. Measurement Development for Reducing Microaggressions: Survey Study
  4. Promoting Connection Across Difference: Racial Harmony Student Workshop
  5. Reducing Barriers to Care: Racial Harmony Workshop in Medicine

Racial Harmony Workshop Publications to Date

  1. Williams, M. T., Skinta, M. D., Kanter, J. K., Martin-Willett, R., Mier-Chairez, J., Debreaux, M., & Rosen, D. C. (2020). A qualitative study of microaggressions against African Americans on predominantly White campuses. BMC Psychology, 8(111), 1-13. doi: 10.1186/s40359-020-00472-8
  2. Kanter, J. W., Williams, M. T., Kuczynski, A. M., Manbeck, K., Debreaux, M., & Rosen, D. (2017). A preliminary report on the relationship between microaggressions against Blacks and racism among White college students. Race and Social Problems, 9(4), 291–299. doi: 10.1007/s12552-017-9214-0
  3. Kanter, J. W., Williams, M. T., Kuczynski, A. M., Corey, M. D., Parigoris, R. M., Carey, C. M., Manbeck, K. E., Wallace, E. C., & Rosen, D. C. (2020). The measurement and structure of microaggressive communications by White people. Race and Social Problems 12, 323–343. doi: 10.1007/s12552-020-09298-w
  4. Williams, M. T., Kanter, J. W., Peña, A., Ching, T. W. C., & Oshin, L. (2020). Reducing microaggressions and promoting interracial connection: The Racial Harmony Workshop. Journal of Contextual and Behavioral Science, 16, 153-161. doi: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2020.04.008
  5. Kanter, J. W., Rosen, D. C., Manbeck, K. E., Branstetter, H., Kuczynski, A., Corey, M. D., Maitland, D., & Williams, M. T. (2020). Addressing microaggressions in racially charged patient-provider interactions: A pilot randomized trial. BMC Medical Education, 20(88), 1-14. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02004-9