16 Dec The Context of a Crisis

In some cultures, eye contact is a sign of respect while lack of eye contact is a sign of avoidance, mistrust, or that a person hiding something. In other cultures, eye contact can be interpreted as a sign of defiance, while avoiding eye contact is a sign of deference. If you were to misinterpret eye contact as an HSPP, you may misinterpret the body language of a service user in a way that can be detrimental to your work with them. This is just one example of how culture can affect how service users access resources in a time of crisis or trauma. You will undoubtedly be working with people of different cultures and it is necessary to be aware of how culture shapes services users’ responses as well as how your culture shapes your own perceptions.

Culture is a factor that can add context to a crisis and affect how service users and HSPPs respond to a critical incident. There are other factors you need to be aware of, such as ecological factors (this refers to things such as age, socioeconomic status, and physical health) that can affect how services users and HSPPs interact. In this discussion, you will examine how the contexts of culture and ecological factors affect the survivor’s response to a critical incident.

To Prepare

· Review the Learning Resources and Course Announcements.

· Consider how peoples’ cultures can affect their responses to a crisis.

· Consider how ecological factors can affect how an individual responds to a crisis.

Post the following:

· Provide a brief description of a crisis or critical incident that you select.

· Explain how you would respond to this crisis in 2 different cultural contexts.

· Identify at least 3 ecological factors such as age, ethnicity, environment, and social economic status that may affect the survivors’ response to the critical incident.