Cultural Diversity and Family Based Interventions

Family interventions are critical in addressing many of the risks and issues of children and adolescents. However; a key factor in ensuring their effectiveness is understanding the context in which they are needed. This chapter describes the role of culture in shaping the acceptance of and access to family interventions. It focuses on how culture can influence the recognition of problems; access to information; openness to help-seeking; social support; and acceptance of providers and interventions. It also discusses critical factors to enable community engagement with diverse ethnic and cultural groups including information sharing; referral pathways; building social support; cultural adaptation; building trust relationships; and cross-cultural competence; harnessing resources; and using multi-disciplinal teams