Important psychocultural factors in the delivery of mental health services to lower-class puerto rican clients: A review of recent studies

Abstract

Literature on the psychological orientation of lower class Puerto Rican clients, their cultural value system, and their expectations for mental health services was reviewed. First, lower‐class Puerto Rican client's psychocultural orientation to therapy was seen as relatively dissimilar to that of the typical middle‐class American client. Second, differences in expectations of therapy between the Anglo therapist and lower‐class Puerto Rican client were described. Factors affecting the minimal use of mental health services by the lower‐class Puerto Rican community were also discussed. Recommendations were offered to aid in the amelioration of these problems for Puerto Rican clientele.

Latinos and latinas in community psychology: A review of the literature

“…ber of discussions about the need to be sensitive to the culturally-distinctive features of Latino and Latina groups (e.g., Amaro, 1988;Bloom & Padilla, 1979;Comas-Diaz, 1988;Hernandez-Holtzman & Gilbert, 1987;Incl~n, 1983;Padilla, Cervantes, Maldonado, & Garcia, 1988;Rosado, 1980). As noted earlier, other broad themes that emerged were related to: social, economic, and cultural diversity; assessment and treatment strategies; utilization of services; social supports and coping; and participation and change.…”

“…Among the barriers to service utilization that Latinos and Latinas encounter, Acosta and Cristo (1982) mentioned the lack of professional staff ethnically or linguistically representative of the community served. Rosado (1980) mentioned, as well, the incompatibility of aspects of therapy with the psychological orientation, cultural value system, and expectations of the clients. The proposed recommendations to eliminate such barriers included having providers learn about ethnic communities, their cultural values, and the effects of social class and culture (Acosta, 1979;Rosado, 1980) and increasing the number of bilingual/bicultural community workers (Acosta, 1979;Delgado & Scott, 1979).…”

Fostering social–emotional resilience among Latino youth

“…The difficulties Latinos in the United States experience have long been documented. In his writings about the delivery of mental health services for urban Latino families and children, Rosado (1980, 1986) underscored the various migrational, linguistic, acculturative, and socioeconomic stressors experienced by many urban, low‐income Latino families. Although many Latinos have settled in rural and suburban communities beyond the major urban regions of the United States, not much has changed in terms of the nature and extent of stressors experienced by a significant number of Latino children and families.…”

Initial Validation of a Spanish-Language Version of the Client Satisfaction Inventory

“…Furthermore, because in many Hispanic clients problems with mood states may be compounded by economic distress, further disappointment may arise if treatment fails to meaningfully affect this source of concern, even if it is successful in moderating symptoms of the presenting problem. Other evidence indicates that despite a high need for mental health services, Hispanic clients often underuse available resources or, when seeking help, minimize the severity of their symptoms due to lack of confidence in the practitioner or fear of being labeled seriously disturbed (Rosado, 1980;Sue, 1982). Problems needing attention may then be overlooked, undertreated, or due to their severity, diminished but not eliminated.…”