CulTher - Improving Clinical Psychologists' Transcultural Competence (CulTher)
Internally funded project
Acronym: CulTher
Start date : 01.05.2022
Project details
Short description
The number of patients with migration and refugee
experiences in psychotherapy is growing. Cultural and contextual factors
influence how psychological symptoms are perceived, diagnosed, and treated.
Professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA)
have long called for the promotion of transcultural skills in psychotherapist
education. This includes openness to diverse worldviews and sensitivity to
cultural differences, without assuming the superiority of one’s own norms.
This project aims to develop and evaluate an internet-based training program to
enhance transcultural competence among psychotherapists. In addition, a
performance-based tool will be developed to objectively assess transcultural
competence, independently of self-report.
Scientific Abstract
This research project involves a randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of CulTher, an online training course for psychotherapists. The training consists of six modules covering topics such as cultural imprinting, discrimination-sensitive psychotherapy, and culturally sensitive diagnostics. Furthermore, network analyses will be used to gain new insights into transcultural competence, contributing to the development of the theoretical concept and new approaches to evaluating corresponding training courses. Additionally, we will develop and validate an indirect, performance-based instrument that measures transculturally competent behavior using video clips of simulated therapy sessions, independent of self-assessments.
