ODL 333: Beyond Representation: Developing Meaningful Culturally Tailored Interventions

1 CREDIT HOUR APPROVED FOR:

Social Workers
ASWB ACE – 1 Cultural Competence CE Credit
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work – 1 Contact Hour
Psychologists
APA – 1 CE Credit
Counselors
NBCC ACEP – 1 Contact Hour
Substance Abuse Counselors
NAADAC – 1 Contact Hour
Nurses
California Board of Registered Nursing – 1 Contact Hour
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners – 1 Contact Hour
Case Managers
CCMC – 1 Contact Hour

Please make sure to check with your own state board to ensure the transferability of CE credit for an asynchronous course. Some state boards may place restrictions regarding the modality of training required for ethics credits to be awarded. If this training indicates ethics credits are available, please verify that your state allows them to be earned through an on-demand course format.

Created On:  4/10/25                   

Target Audience:

This course is targeted for social workers, psychologists, counselors, nurses and case managers.

Counselor Skill Groups:

4. Counseling Services
6. Case Management

Overview:

Tailors are in the business of performing complicated alterations that benefit customers beyond the use of well-fitted clothing. Often, tailoring also helps build customer confidence. Culturally tailoring interventions for specific populations of interest can follow the same sentiments; it allows groups to feel seen and address unique challenges that some communities often face. However, the process can be misunderstood, with interventionists solely incorporating media representation (i.e., pictures & videos that mirror the group of interest), which, although important, is not complete – there is more to consider. What’s most important is centering the population of interest and engaging them throughout the entire development of the intervention. This can make for an intricate process, but a rewarding and, most importantly, effective intervention.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the session, the participant will be able to:

• Define “culture” and a “culturally tailored” intervention.  
• Describe effective processes to culturally tailor interventions.  
• Compare real-life examples of culturally tailored interventions and discuss differences.  

Presenter:

Karah Alexander, PhD, MPH, MS, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University

Dr. Karah Alexander got her PhD in nursing from Emory University and a graduate certificate in health literacy from the College of Education & Human Development at Georgia State University. She is also a proud undergrad alumna of Spelman College. As an interdisciplinary health scholar, much of Karah’s work aligns with exploring literacy as a factor of health inequities in the Black community, as well as designing and testing culturally appropriate interventions for Black family caregivers of persons living with dementia. She has co-led a pilot health literacy improvement project at Emory Healthcare and served as a subject matter expert in health literacy for the Atlanta Region Community Health Workforce Advancement Program and the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation. Since 2021, she has worked on the intervention development and testing team for the Caregiving while Black Course, a novel culturally tailored psychoeducation course for Black dementia caregivers. She also served as an Instructional Design Coordinator with the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregivers leading a culturally tailored initiative of their ‘Dealing with Dementia’ Program. Currently, she is a clinical coordinator for “Caregiver Bootcamp”, an intervention to help new caregivers master the first 100 days of caregiving. Karah has taught undergraduate and graduate nursing and public health students the importance of culturally appropriate interventions and effective processes to do so.