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Article 1: Mattar, S. (2010). Cultural Considerations in Trauma Psychology Education, Research, and Training. Traumatology, 16(4), 48-52.

Abstract: The fields of trauma psychology and cultural psychology have rarely crossed paths within the context of mainstream psychology and psychiatry. Although clinical trauma psychology has acknowledged relevance of the ethical principle of respect for differences in trauma treatment, this has not so far motivated a systematic effort to improve our understanding of how culture is intertwined with our cognitive and emotional responses to trauma. As the field of disaster mental health has come to greater prominence in recent years, it has confronted trauma psychology with how profoundly the forms of both trauma and resilience are, as well as how ineffective traditional paradigms are in transcultural work. The author reviews some of the barriers in cultural considerations in trauma psychology and provides practical suggestions toward developing cultural competence benchmarks for trauma psychology education, training, and research.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. Think about your own cultural self-awareness and competence. How do you think that you could develop better skills in cultural competence to engage in trauma psychology?
    

Article 2: Gone, J.P. (2015). Reconciling evidence-based practice and cultural competence in mental health services: Introduction to a special issue. Transcultural psychiatry, 52(2), 139-149.

Abstract: The calls for evidence-based practice (EBP) and cultural competence (CC) represent two increasingly influential mandates within the mental health professions. Advocates of EBP seek to standardize clinical practice by ensuring that only treatment techniques that have demonstrated therapeutic outcomes under scientifically controlled conditions would be adopted and promoted in mental health services. Advocates of CC seek to diversify clinical practice by ensuring that treatment approaches are designed and refined for a multicultural clientele that reflects a wide variety of psychological orientations and life experiences. As these two powerful mandates collide, the fundamental challenge becomes how to accommodate substantive cultural divergences in psychosocial experience using narrowly prescriptive clinical practices and approaches, without trivializing either professional knowledge or cultural difference. In this Introduction to a special issue of Transcultural Psychiatry, the virtue of an interdisciplinary conversation between and among anthropologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social work researchers in addressing these tensions is extolled.
 

Article 3: Yates, C. (June 2013). Evidence-Based Practice: The Components, History, and Process. Counseling outcome research and evaluation, 4(1), 41-54

Abstract: This article explored the evolution of evidence-based practice (EBP) in counseling, highlighting the history of EBP, its central components, and the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating EBP into routine client care. Recommendations using a five-step model are given for counselor educators who wish to incorporate EBP in training to promote evidence-informed decision making.