Defining culturally appropriate community interventions: Hispanics as a case study

This article proposes three components that are needed in order to develop communitywide change interventions that are culturally appropriate or group-specific. The basis for the development of targeted group-specific interventions is the quickly accumulating evidence that shows that ethnic and/or racial groups differ in terms of their cultural values, norms, expectancies, and attitudes. These differences predicate the notion that in order to be effective, community interventions need to take into consideration the specific characteristics of the group being targeted. Culturally appropriate community interventions are defined, therefore, as meeting each of the following characteristics: (a) The intervention is based on the cultural values of the group, (b) the strategies that make up the intervention reflect the subjective culture (attitudes, expectancies, norms) of the group, and (c) the components that make up the strategies reflect the behavioral preferences and expectations of the group's members. The implications of this definition for the development of a culturally appropriate intervention for Hispanics are also discussed.