In this article, the authors develop a brief questionnaire that assesses racist discrimination in the lives ofAfricanAmericans, and conduct preliminary studies with it. The Schedule of Racist Event...

The schedule of racist events: A measure of racial discrimination and a study of its negative physical and mental health consequences

Level of acculturation has been recognized as important in clinical work with ethnic minorities. However, scales are lacking for assessment of this variable for Asians. The SL-ASIA, Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale, was modeled after a successful scale for Hispanics. Initial reliability and validity data are reported for two samples of Asian subjects, from two states.

The Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale: An Initial Report:

This article examines the role of cultural knowledge and culture-specific techniques in the psychotherapeutic treatment of ethnic minority-group clients. Recommendations that admonish therapists to be culturally sensitive and to know the culture of the client have not been very helpful. Such recommendations often fail to specify treatment procedures and to consider within-group heterogeneity among ethnic clients. Similarly, specific techniques based on the presumed cultural values of a client are often applied regardless of their appropriateness to a particular ethnic client. It is suggested that cultural knowledge and culture-consistent strategies be linked to two basic processes— credibility and giving. Analysis of these processes can provide a meaningful method of viewing the role of culture in psychotherapy and also provides suggestions for improving psychotherapy practices, training, and research for ethnic-minority populations.

The role of culture and cultural techniques in psychotherapy. A critique and reformulation.

Family psychology and cultural diversity: Opportunities for theory, research, and application.

This study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) with depressed adolescents in Puerto Rico. Seventy-one adolescents meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria for a diagnosis of depression were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: CBT, IPT, or wait list (WL). Pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up measures of depression symptoms, self-esteem, social adjustment, family emotional involvement and criticism, and behavioral problems were completed. Results suggest that IPT and CBT significantly reduced depressive symptoms when compared with the WL condition. IPT was superior to the WL condition in increasing self-esteem and social adaptation. Clinical significance tests suggested that 82% of adolescents in IPT and 59% of those in CBT were functional after treatment. The results suggest that both IPT and CBT are efficacious treatments for depressed Puerto Rican adolescents. IPT's impact in other levels of outcome is discussed in terms of its consonance with Puerto Rican cultural values.

Enrico E. Jones

Papers

Minority Mental Health