Community Support

Notes from a Roundtable on Conceptualizing and Measuring Cultural Competence

Roundtable Overview

National experts with experience and background in evaluation methodology and cultural competence met at a roundtable in Denver, Colorado, on December 16-17, 1998 (see Agenda, Appendix A). The group was asked to discuss the challenges and to propose some practical approaches for conceptualizing and measuring cultural competence in the delivery of mental health services.

The two-day roundtable was supported by the Evaluation Center@HSRI (Human Services Research Institute) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Multicultural Mental Health Research Center (MMHRC) of Boston. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program provided support in planning and conducting the roundtable. The Evaluation Center is funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide technical assistance in the area of adult mental health system evaluation to state and community mental health programs.

The roundtable was invitational and involved 20 participants (Appendix B). All major mental health disciplines were represented in the participant group as were the four major racial/ethnic groups: African American, Asian and Pacific Islander American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American. Ten individuals with strong backgrounds in evaluation methodology and/or cultural competence were invited to participate; nine of them submitted individual papers and brief abstracts addressing practical measures of cultural competency to be used in mental health system evaluation. These papers provided the theme for the roundtable.

The first day, in addition to individual presentations and discussions on the topics presented, Stephen Leff, Ph.D., Director of the Evaluation Center@HSRI, gave participants an overview of the Evaluation Center and discussed the purpose of the roundtable and the desired outcome. Leff stated that he would like the roundtable to result in some guidance to the field on how to move forward in evaluating and measuring cultural competence in the delivery of mental health services. He expressed his hope that the group would identify an existing measurement instrument even if it was less than ideal. Leff acknowledged the existence of evaluation instruments already in the field and proposed that the group discuss both refinements of current instruments and/or creation of new ones. Kermit Crawford, Ph.D., Director of the Multicultural Mental Health Research Center, shared information on activities of the MMHRC and its goals for cultural competence and evaluation issues.

The second day focused on major issues raised in the presentations and expectations of the group about the purpose of the roundtable and what could actually be accomplished. The roundtable ended with an in-depth discussion of issues of defining and measuring cultural competency and the role of roundtable participants in planning next steps for developing needed evaluation tools.

Table of Contents | Previous | Next