Review of Culturally Competent Practice with Immigrant and Refugee Children and Families
Author(s):
Guzder, Jaswant
Format:
Book review
Citation:
Transcultural Psychiatry, Volume 42, Issue 3 (2005-09). pp. 512-514.
Language:
English
Abstract:
This is a review of the book "Culturally Competent Practice with Immigrant and Refugee Children and Families" by Rowena Fong (Ed.) (2003). This collection of papers is oriented to American social workers practicing with refugees or immigrants from 14 selected communities: Filipino, Korean, Laotian, Hmong, Asian Indian (Hindus and Muslims), Latinos, Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Columbian, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Russian, and Balkan. Rowena Fong begins and ends the volume with general overviews on the pressing need to develop culturally competent social work skills. She discusses, in general terms, the issues of cultural sensitivity, barriers to care and theoretical positions currently oriented to systemic, ecological, social (macro-, meso- or micro-levels), contextual social work, multiculturalism, and promoting cultural competence through understanding 'multiple connection pathways'. This is a volume that has been directed to social workers naive to cultural factors in their case planning and not for clinicians conversant with multicultural dimensions of mental health care in modern America. The text does not address many historically important immigrant groups or the evolving generational issues. However, this is meant to be an introductory book, choosing to address current changing child cliental, rather than comment in depth on social work training, supervising countertransference problems, distinguishing refugee health challenges, acknowledging institutional racism or looking at ethno-psychological literature on child development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)