Culturally relevant family‐based treatment for adolescent delinquency and substance abuse: understanding within‐session processes

Identifying psychotherapy processes that likely contribute to client outcome with ethnic minorities is a vital practice and research need, particularly within family-focused, evidence-based treatments (EBT) for youth with externalizing problems. Identifying process variables within a cross-cultural context may improve the efficacy of EBTs by informing psychotherapists how to modify their behavior when working with ethnically diverse clients. The authors described one approach to the development of culturally competent psychotherapy, using an observational coding system comprising Afrocentric codes to investigate culturally relevant therapist behaviors. Qualitative examples illustrated the quantitative findings relating to therapist in-session behavior that promote client engagement and positive responding during a midtreatment session of multisystemic therapy.