On the frontline : A qualitative study of mental health practices with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) clients

The current study explored the contemporary mental health practices with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) clients. A phenomenological qualitative design was utilised, employing snowballing techniques to recruit a sample of participants (N=15) who had a minimum of 12 months experience with service provision to CALD clients, from a range of professional backgrounds including: social work, psychology, counselling, counselling psychology and psychiatry. Thematic content analysis of interview transcripts was facilitated by NVivo software which aided the researcher in the identification and coding of themes reflecting the lived experiences of participants, as they manifested within and across interviews. Findings highlighted the importance of practitioner awareness and skills over cultural knowledge, and suggested that respect and rapport could compensate for a lack of cultural knowledge. Furthermore, findings discovered that the importance of practitioners knowing where to find cultural information as it is required was a priority, rather than expecting to know this cultural knowledge. Findings supported concepts from existing models of cultural competence and identified concrete practices associated with these constructs. This study identified that current culturally competent practices contribute to narrowing the gap between theory and practice of cultural competence identified in the literature, and inform directions for future research