Culture
Keywords
psychotherapy outcomes, ethnic minority groups, culture, meta-analysis, evidence-based practice, treatment adaptation
Abstract
This article summarizes the definitions, means, and research of adapting psychotherapy to clients’ cultural backgrounds. We begin by reviewing the prevailing definitions of cultural adaptation and providing a clinical example. We present an original meta-analysis of 65 experimental and quasi-experimental studies involving 8,620 participants. The omnibus effect size of d 5 .46 indicates that treatments specifically adapted for clients of color were moderately more effective with that clientele than traditional treatments. The most effective treatments tended to be those with greater numbers of cultural adaptations. Mental health services targeted to a specific cultural group were several times more effective than those provided to clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds. We recommend a series of research-supported therapeutic practices that account for clients’ culture, with culture-specific treatments being more effective than generally culture-sensitive treatments.
Original Publication Citation
Smith, T. B., Domenech Rodríguez, M., & Bernal, G. (2011). Culture. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(2), 166-175.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Smith, Timothy; Domenech Rodríguez, Melanie; and Bernal, Guillermo, "Culture" (2011). Faculty Publications. 7518.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7518
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2011
Publisher
Wiley Periodicals
Language
English
College
David O. McKay School of Education
Department
Counseling Psychology and Special Education
Copyright Status
© 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Copyright Use Information
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
