Developing Cultural Competence in Disaster Mental Health Programs:
Guiding Principles and Recommendations

Appendix A:

American Psychological Association (1990). APA Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Offers recommendations on working with ethnic and culturally diverse populations to providers of psychological services.

Child Welfare League of America (1993). Cultural Competence Self-assessment Instrument. Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America. A tool designed to help organizations providing family services identify, improve, and enhance cultural competence in staff relations and client service functions. The instrument, which has been field-tested, provides a practical, easy-to-use approach to addressing the major issues associated with delivering culturally competent services.

Cohen, R. (1992). Training mental health professionals to work with families in diverse cultural contexts. Responding to Disaster: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. Explores cultural considerations for mental health workers and disaster survivors in the immediate and longer-term aftermath of a disaster. Examines issues of loss, mourning, separation, coping, and adaptation as they relate to disaster survivors from various cultures

Cross, T. L. (1989). Towards a Culturally Competent System of Care. Vol. I: A Monograph of Effective Services for Minority Children who are Severely Emotionally Disturbed. Washington, DC: CASSP Technical Assistance Center, Georgetown University Child Development Center. One of the first documents to provide practical information on operationalizing cultural competence. Provides definitions for competence, introduces the concept of a cultural competence continuum, and provides information that can be used at individual and organizational levels.

Giger, J., and Davidhizar, R. (1999). Transcultural Nursing: Assessment and Intervention. St. Louis, MO: Mosby, Inc. Provides tools that can be used to evaluate cultures’ perceptions and needs related to communication, space, social organization, time, environmental control, and biological variations. Giger and Davidhizar were among the first to develop the concept of cultural competence in the nursing profession. Now in its third printing, the publication is used by a number of other disciplines.

Goode, T. D. (1999).Getting Started: Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Culturally Competent Service Delivery Systems in Primary Health Care Settings, Implications for Policy Makers and Administrators. Washington, DC: Georgetown University, National Center for Cultural Competence. A checklist that can assist programs and organizations in initiating strategic development of policies, structures, procedures, and practices that support cultural and linguistic competence.

Health Resources and Services Administration (1998). Health Care Rx: Access for All. Washington, DC: Health Resources and Services Administration. A chart book that provides a picture of the health of racial and ethnic minority Americans and the cascade of factors that limit access to health care, hamper workforce diversity, and limit culturally competent services.

Hernandez, M., and Isaacs, M. (1998). Promoting Cultural Competence in Children’s Mental Health Services. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing. Provides an excellent framework for developing a culturally competent mental health system. Focuses on the need to develop organizational infrastructures that support and further cultural competence and the need to ensure that programs are meaningful at the community and neighborhood levels. Also addresses special issues related to serving culturally diverse populations. Designed for planners, program managers, policy makers, practitioners, parents, teachers, researchers, and others who are interested in improving mental health services for families.

Hicks, Noboa-Rios (1998). Cultural Competence in Mental Health: A Study of Nine Mental Health Programs in Ohio. Columbus, OH: Outcomes Management Group, Ltd. Provides an assessment of nine culturally competent programs that were funded to encourage the provision of cultural sensitivity training to the mental health community and to develop nontraditional, culturally sensitive methods of delivering services to persons of color. Prepared for the Multi-Ethnic Behavioral Consortium of the Ohio Department of Mental Health.

Nader, K., Dubrow, N., and Stamm, H. (1999). Honoring Differences: Cultural Issues in the Treatment of Trauma and Loss. Ann Arbor, MI: Brunner/Mazel. Discusses the treatment of trauma and loss while recognizing the importance of understanding the cultural context in which the mental health professional provides assistance.

Perkins, J., Simon, H., Cheng, F., et al. (1998). Ensuring Linguistic Access in Health Care Settings: Legal Rights and Responsibilities. Los Angeles, CA: National Health Law Program. An informative discussion on linguistic issues that can impede effective service delivery. Covers the importance of language access, use of community volunteers, limitations of interpretation, linguistic barriers in mental health, and effective use of written materials.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2000). Cultural Competence Standards in Managed Mental Health Care for Underserved/Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Groups. Washington, DC: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Provides information on cultural competence guidelines, performance indicators, and potential outcomes in the areas of triage and assessment, care planning, treatment plans, treatment services, communication styles, and cross-cultural linguistic and communication support.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2000). Cultural strengths and challenges in implementing a system of care model in American Indian communities. Systems of Care: Promising Practices in Children’s Mental Health (2000 Series, Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, American Institutes for Research. Examines promising practices of five American Indian children’s mental health projects that integrate traditional American Indian helping and healing methods with the systems of care model.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1992-1999). Cultural Competence Series. Monograph series sponsored by Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration; Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; and Office of Minority Health.

Van der Veer, G. (1995). Psychotherapeutic Work with Refugees. New York: Plenum Press. Suggests that the trauma that a refugee experiences in a disaster may not be an isolated incident, but part of a series of ongoing traumatic events. Stresses that overcoming cultural difference is essential in working with traumatized refugees and that such work requires creatively adjusting a variety of existing techniques.