The Impact of Social Stigma on the Therapeutic Relationship for Latino Clinicians: The Elephant in the Room?

<p>Social stigma is consistently mentioned in the literature as one of the barriers</p><p>preventing Latinos from seeking, accessing and remaining in mental health care. This</p><p>study focuses specifically on social stigma as a barrier to remain in psychotherapy.</p><p>Social stigma is understood as the internalized fear of severe social disapproval for</p><p>behaving against acceptable cultural meaning systems. With intersubjective theory as</p><p>the analytical framework, this study primarily explores, through a series of focus groups</p><p>with Latino mental health service providers of Latino clients, the perceptions those</p><p>practitioners have regarding the influence of social stigma on the therapeutic</p><p>relationship and the ways they address this issue in their practice. The constant</p><p>comparison method from a grounded theory perspective and the software NVivo, as an</p><p>auxiliary, were used for data analysis. It was found that social stigma is perceived by</p><p>participants as inextricably linked to the engagement process. It is not seen as playing a</p><p>significant role in the dropout of clients from therapy. Participants see themselves as</p><p>responsible for engaging their clients and eventually addressing any barriers they may</p><p>bring to the therapeutic encounter, including social stigma. The most common</p><p>strategies reported by participants to fulfill these responsibilities are the use of flexible</p><p>boundaries when interacting with clients, and the use of psychoeducation to inform</p><p>them about the meaning and implications of the therapeutic process. Participants strongly recommend the use of groups as a therapy modality for effectively engaging</p><p>clients and addressing the issue of social stigma.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Social Work

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Cifuentes, Mauricio Jose

• Behavioral health
• Latinos
• Psychotherapy
• Social stigma
• Therapeutic relationship
• Social Work

Repository record dc:identifier

https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/259

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.luc.edu:luc_diss-1258