Karlsson R. Ethnic Matching Between Therapist and Patient in Psychotherapy: An Overview of Findings, Together With Methodological and Conceptual Issues.
ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005;
11:113-29. [PMID:
15884983 DOI:
10.1037/1099-9809.11.2.113]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This article reviews the empirical support for ethnic matching between therapist and patient in psychotherapy. The research has 3 sources: analog studies, archival studies of number of attended sessions and dropout rates, and process-outcome studies of psychotherapy. Clinical trials studying ethnic matching are absent. Empirical support for ethnic matching suffers from low validity and is inconclusive, with few studies of actual psychotherapy. The research is hampered by poor conceptualization of key concepts, difficulties in forming ethnically homogeneous groups for comparisons, and an abundance of uncontrolled within-group variables. Therapist variables, for example cultural sensitivity, are rarely investigated. There is a need for large-scale psychotherapy studies with well-defined key concepts in which the impacts of within-group and therapist variables are investigated.
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