Cultural Accommodation of Substance Abuse Treatment for Latino Adolescents

Abstract

Collaboration with community stakeholders is an often suggested step when integrating cultural variables into psychological treatments for members of ethnic minority groups. However, there is a dearth of literature describing how to accomplish this process within the context of substance abuse treatment studies. This article describes a qualitative study conducted through a series of focus groups with stakeholders in the Latino community. Data from focus groups were used by the researchers to guide the integration of cultural variables into an empirically supported substance abuse treatment for Latino adolescents currently being evaluated for efficacy. A model for culturally accommodating empirically supported treatments for ethnic minority participants is also described.