Citation

Walker JS. J. Child Fam. Stud. 2001; 10(3): 315-331.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1012524809297

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

While there is growing consensus on the need for cultural competence in children's mental health services, research has thus far provided little concrete information about what culturally competent service provision looks like in practice. This study is a secondary analysis of quantitative and qualitative data regarding caregiver perceptions of the cultural appropriateness of services to children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. The data were gathered from a diverse sample of caregivers for 286 children. Analysis of the qualitative data yielded a set of coding categories which reliably capture the dimensions of caregiver experience contained in descriptions of specific instances of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with services. Caregivers from diverse backgrounds were equally likely to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with services; however, the distribution of these satisfactions and dissatisfactions across the coding categories was not the same for caregivers of different ethnic or racial communities, or for higher- versus low-income caregivers. For minority caregivers, having experienced a dissatisfaction related to respect for community/ethnic cultural values contributed significantly to overall dissatisfaction with services.