A systematic review of mental health care workers' constructions about culturally and linguistically diverse people

Abstract

A systematic review of research published in English was conducted across seven electronic databases in psychology, health and social sciences. The aim was to ascertain the nature of mental health care workers’ constructions about culturally and linguistically diverse individuals in order to facilitate provision of culturally appropriate service delivery and multicultural training. The constructs and perspectives of 5,870 mental health workers with regards to minority populations are represented across the 38 studies included. Key themes comprised: Aetiology of Constructions; Content of Constructions, Factors that Influence Constructions; Implications for Cultural Competence, Implications for the Therapeutic Alliance, Recommendations for Training, Recommendations for Practice and Recommendations for Research. The therapeutic alliance was most at risk when practitioners displayed low levels of cultural competency and high levels of racial and ethnic blindness. The changing and increasingly multicultural context within most countries means that mental health systems and workers need to prepare for an increasing range of culturally and linguistically diverse clients in need of support. Recommendations are explored for training, practice and research.

Australian mental health care practitioners’ construing of non-White and White people: implications for cultural competence and therapeutic alliance

“…2 CARES model of therapeutic alliance the United States [15]. Discussions about race and ethnic dynamics have been taking place in the United States for over 500 years, compared to Australia whose national engagement in such debates is relatively recent (about 150 years) [12,15,21,43,44]. As such, missing from Australian discourses is a clearer understanding of how mental health care practitioners respond to their own and societal construing of non-White clients within a sociocultural context of Whiteness and what this means for practitioner engagement in culturally competent practice and their ability to effectively support a therapeutic alliance with non-White clients.…”

“…In Australia, there is a dearth of research investigating how mental health practitioners construe and respond to their construing of non-White and White clients. Our recent systematic review [ 15 ], which included 5,870 mental health practitioners, demonstrated that constructions about non-White people are intimately linked to workers’ perceived ability to be culturally competent and supportive of an effective therapeutic alliance. The review highlighted that little is known about the impact of construing about non-White people on the strategies that practitioners employ.…”

“…Without research on Australian mental health care practitioners, the bulk of existing research focuses on a nation with a longer history of multiculturalism, viz. the United States [ 15 ]. Discussions about race and ethnic dynamics have been taking place in the United States for over 500 years, compared to Australia whose national engagement in such debates is relatively recent (about 150 years) [ 12 , 15 , 21 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Importantly, the negative health outcomes and experiences of non-Whites within (mental) health care settings are well documented and related to systems and practitioners that harbor constructions of health and wellbeing based on frameworks of Whiteness [15][16][17][18]. To circumvent negative outcomes, it is acknowledged that increasing (mental) health care practitioners' cultural competency is central to improving client health outcomes [19].…”

A systematic review on LGBTIQ Intimate Partner Violence from a Western perspective

“…The preliminary search used ProQuest Central to identify the key words contained in study titles and abstracts and to ascertain index terms used to describe articles. Following Dune, Caputi, and Walker (2018), a stepby-step search strategy was employed (see Figure 1). Pertinent key words were discussed, expanded upon, and refined by the primary researchers.…”