Dilek Yelda KAGNICI, Serkan DENIZLI
Ege University, TURKEY.
DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2018.75.2

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Mental health professionals’ personal values have a critical role in providing efficient services to culturally diverse clients, being social advocates, and promoting social justice. In the present study, mental health professionals in Turkey were assumed to be grouped under three categories: the ones who are sensitive, who are rigid, and who are apathetic based on their Belief in a Just World, moral identity, open-mindedness, and social dominance orientation scores. The study aimed to examine the differences among these three groups of mental health professionals in Turkey in relation to social justice.

Methods: A total of 232 mental health professionals participated in the study. The Social Justice Scale, Moral Identity Scale, Open-Mindedness Scale, Social Dominance Scale, and Belief in a Just World Scale were used to collect data, and cluster analysis was performed to analyze the data.

Findings: The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between three categories regarding social justice scores. Results pointed out that sensitive Turkish mental health professionals were more to prone to social justice than the other groups.

Implications for Research and Practice: According to the results, there is a potential risk that there might be cultural groups outside of the boundaries of these mental health professionals’ scope of justice. In order to prevent these risks, some precautions should be taken during mental health professionals’ training. Mental health professionals should be equipped with current competencies to provide service to diverse groups.

Keywords: Social justice mental health professionals belief in a just world moral identity open-mindedness social dominance orientation.