NCJ Number
235871
Editor(s)
Ada-Helen Bayer, Ph.D.,
Frances Larry Brisbane, Ph.D.,
Amelie Ramirez, Dr.P.H.
Date Published
1996
Length
280 pages
Annotation
This sixth volume in a series of cultural-competence publications explores issues faced by evaluators who assess primary health-care and substance-abuse prevention programs that serve various ethnic, racial, and cultural communities.
Abstract
The volume extends the themes of the previous monographs in the series by examining more advanced topics and substantive areas relevant to program evaluation in diverse, culturally defined settings, regardless of the particular ethnic/racial population involved. It consists of eight complementary chapters that address critical methodological issues in program evaluation within the culturally diverse settings in the United States. The first chapter promotes a multilevel approach to measuring acculturation that recognizes the fluctuating nature of ethnicity. The second chapter gives an account of how the perception of science relates to a perception of human beings and crises. Assumptions about what is involved in scientific endeavors must be addressed in order to determine the sources of the variations in human behaviors and perceptions. The third chapter examines how cross-cultural psychology and psychometrics can be joined after overcoming several procedural problems necessary to achieve meaningful and just results. The fourth chapter considers the ethical issues involved in evaluations conducted in "multiethnocultural" contexts. The fifth chapter discusses how to take the best from new and old types of evaluation methodologies in order to arrive at the best method possible for the intervention being considered. The sixth chapter presents "a conceptual and methodological framework in which substance abuse researchers active in ethnic-cultural or multiethnic communities can make conscientious decisions on conceptual and methodological issues based on a culturally anchored, ecological contextualist perspective." The seventh chapter addresses the way in which understanding cultural views helps in delivering wellness services to cultural communities. The final chapter focuses on the significance of community involvement in culturally competent substance abuse programs. Chapter references and notes