DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/2A6Z-JR28

Defense Date

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Michael A. Southam-Gerow

Second Advisor

Bryce D. McLeod

Third Advisor

Rosalie Corona

Fourth Advisor

Faye Belgrave

Fifth Advisor

Humberto Fabelo

Abstract

The increasing diversity of the United States creates a pressing public health need to investigate methods to increase the engagement, retention, and efficacy of mental health services for racial/ethnic minority (REM) youth. Evidence from the adult psychotherapy treatment literature suggests that enhancing therapist cultural competence leads to increases in client satisfaction, alliance, and retention (Constantine, 2002; Sodowsky, Kuo-Jackson, Richardson, & Corey, 1998; Worthington, Soth-McNett, & Moreno, 2007). However, this relationship has not been adequately explored in youth mental health services, due in part, to a lack of valid and reliable measurement. This research project included measure development and initial validation of the Youth Therapist Observational Cultural Competence Scale (YTOCCS) with the aim of creating an observer-rated measure of youth therapist cultural competence. The measure was developed from a review of the theoretical and empirical literature and integrated the surveyed opinions of practicing child therapists, caregivers of REM children involved in the mental health system, and experts in therapist cultural competence. The study used an extreme group design based on child-therapist alliance selecting 32 recordings of 8 unique child-therapist dyads. Three coders were trained using a standardized manual and independently double coded early treatment sessions from an effectiveness trial for individual child cognitive-behavioral therapy conducted in community clinics. The measure demonstrated good reliability as measured by intraclass correlation coefficient, adequate internal consistency, and evidence supported initial validity through demonstrated significant between-group differences. Future studies are warranted to refine the measure and to explore the factor structure of the measure.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

2-18-2015

Download

Share

COinS