Distinguished Speaker - Culture and Coping: A Programmatic Research to Study Collective Coping

The next Department Colloquium Distinguished Speaker is this coming Monday, Feb. 6th. It will be from 12:30-2:00pm in MCKN 231. A short bio of the speaker is below.

Time: Monday Feb. 6th, 12:30-2:00, reception follows

Location: MCKN 231

Lecture Title: Culture and Coping: A Programmatic Research to Study Collective Coping

Presenter: Dr. Ben C. H. Kuo, (Certified Psychologist), Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: There has been a long standing history and interest in psychology and health-related disciplines in studying individuals’ coping behaviours in the face of stress. However, the relationship between coping and cultural influences has not been systematically articulated or investigated until very recently. In this lecture, I will present the conceptualizations, the theories, and the empirical evidences for researching the interface between culture and coping through a series of programmatic studies. In particular, the phenomenon/construct of ‘collective coping’ will be highlighted through instrument development, psychometric analysis and model testing studies of the Cross-Cultural Coping Scale (Kuo, Roysircar, & Newby-Clark, 2006). This presentation intends to illustrate how ‘culture’ and its consequences might be investigated empirically in clinical and psychological research.

Brief Biography: Dr. Kuo is a full professor in the Adult Clinical Psychology MA-Ph.D. program of University of Windsor. He is a Taiwanese-born and Canadian- and US- educated counselling psychologist (M.Ed. U. of Toronto; Ph.D. U. of Nebraska-Lincoln). Dr. Kuo conducts research and publishes in the areas of cross-cultural psychology and multicultural counseling/psychotherapy. His main research focuses on the topics of acculturation, cultural stress and coping, professional help-seeking attitude and behaviors, and cultural adjustment and mental health issues among immigrants, refugees and culturally-diverse populations. As a clinician, Dr. Kuo’s clinical experiences extend to clients of diverse backgrounds and issues/concerns; he regularly teaches and supervises clinical psychology graduate students in multicultural counselling and psychotherapy course and practicum at the U. of Windsor. Dr. Kuo has lectured, provided training, and taught as a distinguished visiting professor and scholar in several countries, including Taiwan, China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, U.S., and Canada. Moreover, Dr. Kuo is an active communicator and invited speaker at various conferences and events for public, community, health and religious organizations and audiences locally in Canada and abroad.