Discussion Questions (Critical Incident p. 470)

1. What definition of “family” would you use in this case? How would you describe the structure of the Martinez family and the impact of social, historical, and cultural processes on the family’s basic functions (e.g., instrumental, expressive, child rearing)?
2. Did the therapy conducted with the Martinez family follow the APA guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists? If so, in what ways?
3. Cultural adaptations of evidence-based treatments are resources for working with diverse ECGs. If you identify an EBT that has not been tested with ECGs, what are basic issues you should consider in culturally adapting the EBT for a particular family?
4. What conceptual resources or tools could help you approach a family that is different from your own racial, ethnic, and cultural background, given the changing social, historical, and multicultural contexts?
5. Was the Martinez family helped through this intervention? What other culturally sensitive approach might have been suitable for this family, and what would you have done differently?