Clinicians' definitions of ethnically sensitive therapy

A survey of 150 nonminority psychologists and social workers who provide clinical services in multiethnic urban institutional settings was conducted to explore how they define ethnically sensitive therapy. Underlying the investigation was the assumption that how clinicians define ethnically sensitive therapy reflects their attitudes and influences the efforts they make to operationalize their definition in therapy. Results show that clinicians' definitions fall along a continuum with four overlapping dimensions that emphasize (a) being aware of the existence of differences, (b) having knowledge of the client's culture, (c) distinguishing between culture and pathology in assessment, and (d) taking culture into account in therapy. The dimensions may reflect a developmental process in how clinicians arrive at conceptualizations of ethnically;sensitive therapy that influence their behaviors in the treatment encounter.