Cultural Validity Paper

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Pages: 2

Cultural Validity In chapter 18, Hays and Erford (2018) brings up the question of cultural validity of diagnosing multicultural clients. According to Hays and Erford (2018), “It is widely believed that ignoring the importance of cultural differences when diagnosing and assessing individuals from diverse backgrounds can lead to unfair and unethical testing practices and diagnoses” (p. 560). There should be assessments that targets cultural backgrounds as they affect the way an individual responds to the treatment that is provided. Therefore, “the wording, illustrations, layout, and contextual information embedded in diagnostic questioning reflect the language, ways of thinking, and experiences of a particular cultural group” (Hays & Erford, 2018, p. 560). Consequently, when clients are not properly assessed through their way of knowledge, it could cause some …show more content…
Not only will it cause harm, it will push them to terminate the session. This is why the DSM-5 has formulated a cultural formulation interview (CFI). The APA (2013) states, “The CFI was designed to aid the clinician in understanding the client’s perception of the problem issue from his or her cultural context, perceptions of etiology (cause of the problem issue), context for the problem issue, perceived support, and cultural factors affecting self-coping and past/present help-seeking behavior” (p. 379). Essentially, without the proper assessment what a counsel may think is one thing it could be another. Therefore, understanding the client’s cultural will bring more accuracy to the sessions. Moreover, the cultural validity of diagnosing multicultural clients requires you to understand their worldview, in addition, to understanding their