Handbook of Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health: A Guide for the Helping Professional

Having the knowledge and capacity to deliver therapy to a diverse population is recognized as benefiting client-therapist relationships and producing positive clinical outcomes. In fact, the APA requires that psychologists be aware of and respect the cultural characteristics of their clients which includes psychologists being aware of any biases and prejudice they may hold. Being aware of cultural characteristics, which include age, gender, ethnicity, race, religion and other cultural factors, is important.  In the United States, minority ethnic groups are growing substantially, with 28% of the U.S. population identifying as races other than white (U.S. Census, 2016). Additionally, approximately 65 million people in America speak a foreign language that is not English, with over 25 million people having limited English language proficiency. With a diverse pool of clients, helping professionals should be better prepared to work with diverse clients. This handbook offers clinicians a comprehensive resource with which to work with diverse populations.

The myriad discussions among the chapters include:

• Ethical guidelines for working with culturally diverse clients
• Cultural considerations in psychological assessment and evaluation 
• Behavioral health service delivery with culturally diverse clients
• Cross-cultural factors in the treatment of trauma related disorders
• Cultural considerations in the assessment and behavioral treatment
• of substance use disorders 

Handbook of Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health expertly offers clinicians a comprehensive set of resources and tools that will assist them working with diverse clients. Clinicians working with culturally diverse clients, as well as researchers and students learning about how cultural factors are relevant to the helping profession will all find this volume an integral addition to their library.

Lorraine Benuto, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she provides treatment to victims of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and child physical abuse. She is project coordinator and therapist of the Victims of Crime Treatment Center at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Benuto received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Previously, she completed her APA-accredited internship at the VA in San Juan, Puerto Rico where she delivered psychological services to a culturally diverse clientele presenting with depression and anxiety. Dr. Benuto has extensive experience delivering evidence-based treatments and conducting psychological assessments with the Latino population. She has delivered professional presentations at state, national, and international conferences on topics related to cultural competence and authored or edited several volumes on aspects of cultural competencein behavioral health for Springer. 

Frances R. Gonzalez is the Associate Director at La Clinica VIVA (at the University of Nevada, Reno [UNR]), a specialized clinical for Latina victims of interpersonal violence (IPV). Throughout her career her focus has been in decreasing health disparities and increasing service access among minorities. She obtained her bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University (SFSU), where she worked alongside various professionals such as Dr. David Matsumoto and the Health Equity Institute. While working with the Health Equity Institute, which focused on eliminating health disparities among minorities, her research focused on Latinas in College, Latinas with HIV, and IPV among Latinas. While at UNR Ms. Gonzalez, earned a master's degree and her clinical work has focused on IPV among Latinos. Her research is on understanding barriers to behavioral health care, and increasing utilization to behavioral health services. Through her research at UNR, clinical experience, involvement in the Latino community and local agencies she has been able to further assess behavioral health disparities, needs, and service utilization of the Latino community. She is currently working on an intervention to increase utilization of behavioral health services among Latinos. She has gained recognition for her accomplishments by winning various awards and scholarships from both SFSU and UNR.

Jonathan Singer graduated with a BA in Psychology and BS in Criminal Justice with a minor in sociology at Adelphi University. After his graduation he attended Columbia University where he received his master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in research methods. He then spent two years at SUNY Downstate medical center where he conducted in depth research with afro-Caribbean individuals who had suffered a stroke. Currently, he is a second year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has six published articles in peer reviewed journals and has presented more than 15 times at major conferences, such as International Stroke Conference, American Psychological Association Conference, and Gerontological Society of America.  He recently received the Louie A. and Hazel L. Gardella Memorial Scholarship and the Sandford Center for Aging Scholarship for his work with older adults.