This article discusses the process of incorporating spirituality and religion into the treatment of African American clients. It addresses religious diversity within the African American community. The roles of spirituality and religion as survival and coping mechanisms for overcoming racism, adversity, and loss are emphasized. The cases presented…

Despite evidence that First Nations people experience a disproportionate degree of mental health concerns relative to other Canadians, many within this population do not access Western-based mental health services. In this article we extend a socio-political and historical rationale for attending to key cultural differences when working with First…

Even though literature indicates that particular cultural groups receive more severe diagnoses at disproportionate rates, there has been minimal research that addresses how culture interfaces specifically with clinical decision making. This mixed methodological study of 41 counselors indicated that cultural characteristics of both counselors and…

This study examined the effects of counselor bilingual ability and counselor ethnicity on client-perceived counselor credibility and cultural competence. Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions created by crossing counselor ethnicity with counselor language. No significant differences were found. Regarding rank ordering of the…

It is important that counsellors provide evidence regarding the efficacy of their services. Although there has been an increased focus on generic outcome measurement of counselling programs and services, little attention has been paid to accountability issues for meeting the needs of diverse populations. This article highlights the increasing…

The author brings her counseling expertise, personal experience, and compassionate perspective to this practical resource that cultivates "cultural competence"--essential for work with diverse populations. Expanding the definition of culture, this book addresses how biases have evolved in new and challenging ways, and provides strategies to help…

Family-school-community partnerships are critically important for the academic success of all students. Unfortunately, in the face of specific barriers, Mexican immigrants struggle to engage in partnership efforts. In the hopes of promoting the engagement of Mexican immigrant families in partnerships, this article presents the findings of a…

Religion and spirituality are deeply rooted in traditional African American culture. Data suggest that African American adolescents maintain higher baseline rates of religious activities and beliefs than their peers (Bachman, Johnston, & O'Malley, 2005; Smith, Faris, Denton, & Regnerus, 2003). Recognizing these data, this article examines…

Individuals of Arab descent residing within the United States currently number between 1.2 million and 3.9 million. These families are characterized by considerable diversity depending upon their nationality, religion, and extent of acculturation to both Western and Arab cultures. More recently, Arab families have immigrated to the United States…

American Muslims represent a heterogeneous population that is underserved by the mental health community, despite increased psychological distress reported since 9/11. This article offers professionals an understanding of the mental health needs of American Muslims. Recommendations for conducting culturally responsive assessments and treatment are…

This article expands on an emerging mixed-method approach for validating culturally-specific constructs (see Hitchcock et al., 2005). Previous work established an approach for dealing with cultural impacts when assessing psychological constructs and the current article extends these efforts into studying stress reactions among adolescents in Sri…

This study was designed to assess the (score) construct-related validity of an instrument called the School-Wide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC). The instrument was developed to use as a tool in conducting culture audits as a means of assessing school-wide cultural competence, or how well a school's programs, policies, and…

Purpose: This article presents a rationale for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to provide culturally competent evaluation, diagnostic, and intervention services for children with oral motor, swallowing, and feeding disorders in school settings. There is also a discussion of how changing American public school demographics necessitate the…

Mexican American students are the fastest growing group in U.S. public schools. There is a growing body of research indicating that Mexican American families underutilize mental health services and are more likely to drop out of care prematurely when they do seek help. These findings may indicate that our health care system is not providing ethnic…

Although it is an established psychological specialty in the United States, counseling psychology is still a culturally encapsulated discipline confined to its national borders. Internationalizing the discipline will require colleagues in the United States to examine their attitudes, abandon their sense of self-sufficiency, and engage counseling…