In 1999, the publication of Kay Redfield Jamison's Night Falls Fast (see Injury Prevention , December 2000; 6 :312) catalyzed national reassessment of suicide causes, prevention, and control in the USA. The book encouraged researchers to help find more and effective ways to prevent suicides and provided a base for institutionalization on suicide prevention.

A National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action is the result of a process led by the US …

https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/injuryprev/8/2/171.1.full.pdf

National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action.

Relatively little research exists on the nature of mainstream teachers' attitudes toward ESL students, nor is much known about the predictors of these attitudes. We report on a survey of 143 junior high/middle school mainstream teachers in a community of approximately 80,000 in the Great Plains region of the United States. On average, respondents had 15.5 years of teaching experience and had worked, over the previous 6 years, with 11.2 ESL students from 3.2 distinct regions of the world. Most reported a neutral to slightly positive attitude toward the prospect of teaching more ESL students in the future. The results support a multipredictor model of teachers' ESL-related attitudes. The predictors include completion of foreign language or multicultural education courses, ESL training, experience abroad, work with diverse ESL students, and gender. We suggest that these predictors collectively tap into a teacher's exposure to cultural diversity and that this exposure underlies positive ESL-related attitudes among mainstream teachers. Thus, we argue that preservice and in-service teachers should have increased opportunities for exposure to cultural diversity.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3587861.pdf

Predictors of Mainstream Teachers´ Attitudes Toward ESL Students

During the past decade much has been said about the need to include cultural issues as a factor in the helping process. The discussion in social work literature has moved from cultural sensitivity to cultural competence, the ability to integrate cultural knowledge and sensitivity with skills for a more effective and culturally appropriate helping process. This article reports the results of a study of culturally competent helping practices with Native Americans. Sixty-two Native American social workers and social work students completed a survey on knowledge, skills, and values necessary for culturally competent service provision to Native American clients. As both Native Americans and helping professionals, the survey respondents are in an ideal position to articulate how best to serve the Native American population. This article fills a gap in the literature by providing empirical information on culturally competent social work with Native Americans.

Indigenous People and the Social Work Profession: Defining Culturally Competent Services

Becoming a culturally competent health professional is a demanding prerequisite in this multicultural society. Cultural competence is explored and abstracted as a conceptual framework through a concept analysis using the evolutionary method. Its model is constructed from a systemic, comprehensive literature review and analysis. Taking into account how cultural competence is viewed by other disciplines (medicine, psychology, education, and social work), a comprehensive definition, antecedents, and consequences of cultural competence in nursing are described and diagrammed. Additionally, two model cases and future implications are discussed. The broader American society is composed of a mosaic of discrete cultural groups existing within the context of their values and identities. Those distinct cultures affect each patient’s ways of thinking and his or her perceptions on health care and health behaviors. The proposed model of cultural competence provides a theoretical guide for developing strategies to achi...

The model of cultural competence through an evolutionary concept analysis.

The underutilization of mental health services by Latinos has been a growing concern in research and clinical practice. This has become increasingly important as the popu- lation of Latinos in the United States rapidly rises and the ev- idence that many are not receiving needed mental health ser- vices accumulates. To provide an understanding of the issues, this article provides an overview of risk factors that may in- fl uence the mental health of Latinos and examines prevalence rates of psychopathology and service utilization trends. This article then presents a comprehensive review of the socio- economic, cultural, and psychotherapeutic barriers that pre- vent Latinos from receiving community mental health servic- es. Treatment recommendations to increase the access and utilization of community mental health services by Latinos are discussed.

/pdf/barriers-to-community-mental-health-services-for-latinos-49ma77vpqc.pdf

Barriers to Community Mental Health Services for Latinos: Treatment Considerations

The Affordable Care Act has led to a widespread movement to integrate behavioral health services into primary care settings. Integrated behavioral health (IBH) holds promise for treating mild to moderate psychiatric disorders in a manner that more fully addresses the biopsychosocial spectrum of needs of individuals and families in primary care, and for reducing disparities in accessing behavioral health care. For behavioral health practitioners, IBH requires a shift to a brief, outcome-driven, and team-based model of care. Despite the fact that social workers comprise the majority of behavioral health providers in IBH settings, little research has been done to assess the extent to which social workers are prepared for effective practice in fast-paced primary care. We conducted a survey of social workers (N = 84) in IBH settings to assess the following: (1) Key competency areas for social work practice in IBH settings and (2) Self-rated preparedness for effective practice in IBH settings. Online snowball sampling methods were used over a period of 1 month. Results indicate that social workers feel prepared for general practice in IBH settings, but would benefit from additional training in IBH-specific competency areas identified in the survey. Findings can help guide social work training to improve workforce preparedness for practice in IBH settings in the wake of health care reform.

Professional competencies and training needs of professional social workers in integrated behavioral health in primary care

The past twenty years have seen a vast improvement in the cultural content of graduate social work curricula. Recently, emphasis on the affective component of education has been added to the knowledge base for cross-cultural practice. This paper takes the next step by introducing a series of outcome objectives for cultural competence categorized by knowledge, skill, and value bases. An evaluation of the model is included.

An Outcome Approach to Assessing the Cultural Competence of MSW Students

Disparities in Latino utilization of mental health services have been documented for some years. Factors such as stigma, low rates of health insurance, paucity of culturally competent providers, and linguistic inaccessibility have contributed to this underutilization. The documented tendency of many Latinos to experience the mind and body as a unified whole, often referred to as “non-dualism,” provides a unique opportunity to address these disparities in utilization. This article advocates a specific model of engagement of Latinos into a continuum of needed behavioral health services via the primary care clinic, and suggests a variety of clinical and administrative outcome measures for evaluating the effectiveness of the model. The model centers on the inclusion of a behavioral health specialist who is “nested” within the primary care team. The preparation and perspectives of clinically trained social workers make them ideal for this role.

Integrated primary care and behavioral health services for Latinos: a blueprint and research agenda.

The purpose of this study was to explore a variety of characteristics of experienced Latino psychotherapists in an attempt to clarify elements of cultural competence The sixty five subjects were from a sample of convenience recruited from mental health agencies serving predominantly Latino clients in the San Francisco Bay area The first part of the study consisted of two focus groups with Latino clinicians to discuss culturally competent services and to generate ideas to inform a preliminary questionnaire The second part consisted of administering the questionnaire to the sample Results were mixed, revealing a combination of responses indicating clinical interventions based upon universally accepted principles, and those uniquely used with Latino clients which were more clearly associated with the cultural traits of Latinos

Characteristics of Latino Mental Health Clinicians: A Preliminary Examination

Field education is conceived of as a form of experiential learning. However, during that professional developmental process, ethnic minority students often experience cultural conflicts between their developing professional identities and their ethnic identity. Thus, the relationship between the student trainee and field work instructor is a crucial one. This article examines the components of the training process as well as the dynamics of the field instructor—Latino student trainee relationship in the context of the challenges both instructors and Latino students face in education. Challenges involve definition of the Latino social worker's role, degree of identification with the Latino culture, the other roles students play, and an understanding of the importance of family in the Latino culture. Culturally relevant instructional models are presented.

Peter Manoleas

Papers

Professional competencies and training needs of professional social workers in integrated behavioral health in primary care

An Outcome Approach to Assessing the Cultural Competence of MSW Students

Integrated primary care and behavioral health services for Latinos: a blueprint and research agenda.

Characteristics of Latino Mental Health Clinicians: A Preliminary Examination

A culturally syntonic approach to the field education of latino students