Central American youth constitute one of the largest groups of newcomers in U.S. public schools, particularly in urban areas. Many have experienced traumatic events and interrupted or limited formal education. These factors, coupled with cultural and language differences, may lead these youth to struggle in public schools, unless specifically…

The implementation of evidence-based psychological programming to meet the needs of a global population has been impeded by the translation of theories and research findings across populations and settings without due consideration of cultural factors. The purpose of this article is to discuss the rationale for use of partnership-based methods in…

The need for evaluation capacity building (ECB) in military psychological health is apparent in light of the proliferation of newly developed, yet untested programs coupled with the lack of internal evaluation expertise. This study addresses these deficiencies by utilizing Preskill and Boyle's multidisciplinary ECB model within a post-traumatic…

The Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) program utilizes a population-based curriculum and has been implemented in Malawi for the past seven years. This article reports findings from an ethnographic study that explored how 40 MHF stakeholders have experienced the MHF program. This transdisciplinary program is a 30-hour training in community mental…

On Friday, March 11, 2011, one of the worst disasters in the world hit the country of Japan. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, forever changing the lives of the people and the state of the country. Not only were lives lost and homes destroyed, the tsunami that followed caused numerous nuclear accidents around the Fukushima…

In the 1990s, sociologists began to rethink the failure of utilization models to explain whether and why individuals accessed formal treatment systems. This effort focused on reconceptualizing the underlying assumptions and processes that shaped utilization patterns. While we have built a better understanding of how social networks structure…

American Indian and Alaska Native psychologists are in demand. They hold promise to meet the mental health needs of tribal and urban Indian communities by bridging Native worldview and the Euro-American stance of psychology in assessing, designing, and delivering mental health services to Native peoples. Individual stories of Native psychologists…

Nearly 20 years ago a culturally relevant program was created on the island of Guam. Inspired by the Gheel, the Belgium colony's humanized treatment of the mentally ill, the program is based on the island's Spanish heritage and makes use of Roman Catholic ritual in communal assembly and in commemorating developmental attainments. Beginning as a…

Compares mental health services from Anglo-American and Native perspectives, focusing on the cultural self as a suggested locus for greater credibility and increased use of these services. Recommends cultural competence as a model for community-specific policy for the design and implementation of services to increase the probability of…

This introduction to the evaluation component of the Circles of Care initiative includes background on the nature of the initiative, Center for Mental Health Services support for developing systems of care for youth with emotional disturbances, and an overview of the systems of care approach. The prevalence, unique challenges, and the historical,…

Examines mental health literature on Hispanic populations, and uncovers the following broad approaches to the development of culturally sensitive therapy programs: (1) rendering traditional approaches more accessible to Hispanics; (2) using elements of Hispanic culture to select from available therapeutic modalities; and (3) using elements of…

Caribbean mental health professionals are concerned with the types of psychotherapy that are relevant to the needs of their clients, and with the uses of psychotherapy in a political context. They appear to be divided into two schools: one seeking to promote in clients a change from a traditional world view to a modern one, and the other seeking…

The relationship of social work practice and education to minority groups is discussed in six symposium papers. The first paper, by Armado Morales, discusses acts of commission and omission by the mental health delivery systems that reflect racism and oppressive attitudes toward Mexican Americans. The relevance and applicability of present…

This study used archival data to examine adult charges and court outcomes for 82 individuals who had been treated in public mental health programs as adolescents. Subjects' clinical records from their adolescent day treatment (18 percent), residential (23 percent) or hospital program (58 percent) were reviewed for sociodemographics, clinical…

Presents an ethnographic analysis of the Puyallup Indian urban tribal health care system with emphasis on mental health issues. Merges anthropological theories and perspectives with the practical experience of providing culturally sensitive care within a multifaceted bureaucratic environment. Contains 146 references. (SV)