Evidence-Based Practices for Conducting Therapy with Spanish-Speaking Clients

Abstract

An astounding 35.8 million Latinos speak Spanish at home, and only 34% of Latino immigrants who reside in the USA speak English proficiently. One of the inherent challenges in the delivery of behavioral health services to Spanish-speaking clients (in addition to the limited number of providers who speak Spanish) is the paucity of tools and/or resources available to Spanish-speaking clinicians. This presents a serious limitation as most evidence-based interventions often include handouts and homework sheets as part of the treatment protocol. The editor and selected authors have set out to address the dearth of resources available in Spanish for those providers who do exist as well as (and primarily) for their Spanish-speaking clients. Thus, each chapter in this book provides an overview of the disorder and associated cultural factors (including prevalence of the disorder among Hispanics/Latinos); a discussion of a culturally variant presentation (if applicable) including a description of how the disorder might present with a Hispanic/Latino client, relevant cultural idioms of stress that are specific to the disorder, etc.; an overview of the “gold standard” treatment for the disorder (rooted in evidence-based principles) and a summary of the literature on this treatment with Hispanics/Latinos (if any); a treatment plan; and a series of handouts, tools, worksheets, informational sheets, etc. that can be used in sessions as part of the treatment plan.