Culturally Responsive Care to Address Problematic Sexual Behavior in Youth: Voices of the Community
Apryl Alexander, PsyD, Jane Silovsky, PhD, Cierra Henson, BA, and Kimberly Lopez, MA
Culturally responsive care requires that professionals see and value clients for all aspects of their identity, background, and experiences. Challenges to culturally responsive care overall are multifaceted, site-specific, and found at individual, family, provider, agency, community, systems, and policy levels. Biased decisions and barriers to culturally responsive care for youth with problematic sexual behavior (PSB) are heightened due to the emotional charge of the sensitive topic, common misconceptions regarding these youth and their responsivity to treatment, and likelihood of complex legal, child welfare, and clinical management. To examine culturally responsive care for youth with PSB, we conducted a series of ten focus groups to capture the voices of broad and critical groups (caregivers, youth, key professions as well as rural, tribal, and military members). Thematic qualitative analyses will be conducted to examine overall as well as group-specific themes on qualities, barriers, and supports of culturally responsive care. Results and implications for practice across multiple professional groups will be shared.
- identify inequities in responses to problematic sexual behavior in youth,
- define culturally responsive care,
- learn at least 3 barriers to cultural responsive care.
- learn at least 3 strategies to enhance culturally response care.