Outcome of a Spanish Immersion Pilot Workshop for Psychology Professionals and Students

Latino individuals constitute 14.4 % of the U.S. population and are projected to reach 20 % of the popu-lation by 2010. With this rise in population, more culturally and linguistically proficient health profes-sionals are needed. In response to this need, the Spanish-Language Immersion and Cultural Competence Pilot Workshop was developed. This workshop provided participants intensive Spanish language train-ing and presentations on aspects of the Latino culture that are particularly relevant to mental health pro-fessionals. Participants in the workshop completed a pre- and post-test questionnaire on their experi-ences, knowledge, and attitudes about Spanish language and Latino culture. Analysis of these question-naires revealed that participants ’ attitudes and knowledge of Spanish and Latino culture were signifi-cantly different after the workshop. The Latino population currently represents the largest minority group in the United States, consisting of approxi-mately 42.7 million individuals, or 14.4 % of the total popu-lation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). The term Latino is an amalgam used by the U.S. Census Bureau to indicate indi