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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

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01-06-2019 | Review Paper

Cultural Considerations in the Assessment of Survivors of Torture

Author: Sumithra S. Raghavan

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 3/2019

Abstract

The cultural and ethnic landscape of North America is becoming increasingly diverse, with many refugees fleeing torture and persecution and seeking safety in the United States and Canada. In working with this population, clinicians must implement culturally appropriate methods of assessing and treating individuals from diverse backgrounds. Culture can exert a powerful and often misunderstood influence on psychological assessment, and the critical challenge is to account for both subjective experience of the client and the objective symptoms or behaviors present. The present review explores the literature on cross-cultural issues in the assessment of survivors of torture. I summarize best practices and review the theoretical and statistical bases for establishing the equivalence of constructs across cultures. Discussion centers around the utility of a cross-culturally valid measure of distress, and it is hoped that this review will encourage collaboration between clinicians and psychometricians to develop assessments for use with this vulnerable population.

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Title: Cultural Considerations in the Assessment of Survivors of Torture
Author: Sumithra S. Raghavan
Publication date: 01-06-2019
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 3/2019
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-018-0787-5

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Cultural Considerations in the Assessment of Survivors of Torture

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