The practice of evidence-based treatments in ethnic minority youth

Abstract

Ethnic minority children continue to have substantial unmet mental health needs, and evidence-based treatments (EBTs) have proved challenging to disseminate widely among ethnic minority communities. Indeed, policy makers have made an important distinction between EBTs, interventions that have proven efficacy in clinical trials, and evidence-based practice, which involves "the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences." The present research evidence suggests that several interventions have been found to be effective in ethnic minority populations without a need for major adaptations of the original interventions. However, this article highlights the need to deliver evidence-based practice, which is defined as the implementation of EBTs delivered with fidelity and with the integration of important cultural systems and community factors.

Figure 1

The relationship between evidence-based treatment and evidence-based practice. From American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Treatment. Evidence-based treatment in psychology. Am Psych 61:271–85, 2006; with permission.

Figure 2

Model for using community partnerships to provide culturally sensitive evidence-based treatment From Ngo V, Langley AK, Kataoka SH, et al.: Providing evidence-based practice to ethnically diverse youths: examples from the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program. J Am Acad of Child and Adolesc Psychaitry 47:859, 2008; with permission.