Efforts to improve the quality and population reach of services for psychosis underscore the need to provide culturally and linguistically responsive care (CLR). With an emphasis on early psychosis, this presentation reviews clinical and organizational best practices to promote such care. Highlights of research findings that empirically support the need for CLR care are presented and largely focus on Latinx sub-populations. For example, patients’ and their caregivers’ narratives of illness (psychosis) and of its treatment, expectations of patients’ functioning, and the nature of care-giving relationships, alongside social disadvantages are known to be linked with early psychosis service utilization and course of illness. Implications for practice and research applicable to multiple service settings with varying service sectors are illustrated.
Jorge Ramírez García, PhD, cared over 30 years for a family member diagnosed with Serious Mental Illness. His professional activities have focused on service programming and research to strengthen family and community care of individuals with psychosis. His research has examined holistic frameworks of family and ethno-cultural factors that affect – and are affected by – individuals with psychosis as well as at-risk-youth. He serves on the editorial boards of Cultural and Ethnic Minority Psychology and Journal of Latinx Psychology. Jorge is a Research and Evaluation Scientist at Oregon Research Institute and has held Program and Research Analyst and Health Equity Coordinator positions at Greater Oregon Behavioral Health. He currently serves on the Cultural Competence and Continuing Education steering committee and the Health Equity Committee of the Oregon Health Authority.
