The application of diversity-based interventions to policy and practice.

This chapter will evaluate the effectiveness of diversity-based interventions in generating positive intergroup attitudes and increasing appreciation for diversity. We begin by explaining why diversity-based interventions are so important. We will then outline and critically evaluate four types of interventions designed by educators: multicultural education, anti-racism education, diversity training, and dual language schooling. Three interventions, developed by psychologists, and based explicitly on social psychological theory and research on prejudice and prejudice reduction, will also be outlined and critically evaluated: multiple classification training, intergroup contact, and indirect contact. The strengths and limitations of both academics' and practitioners' approaches to the development of diversity based interventions will be outlined. Techniques developed by practitioners are highly practical, but psychological theories and findings are rarely incorporated and the impact on intergroup relations or attitudes is rarely evaluated in a systematic way. Meanwhile, academics rarely translate psychological theories into interventions, and those interventions that are developed are often impractical and unsustainable. The mutual benefits of closer collaboration between practitioners and academics will then be explored and some recommendations will be made for how closer collaboration between practitioners and academics could be brought about. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)