Considerations for minority ethnic young people in multisystemic therapy.

Aisling Bunting,Amaryllis Holland,Simone Fox,Jai Adhyaru

doi:10.1177/1359104520969762

Abstract

Research has indicated that multisystemic therapy (MST) is an effective treatment for youth with antisocial behaviours (Painter & Scannapieco, 2009). This qualitative study explored minority ethnic young peoples’ experiences of MST, focusing on their understanding of their presenting difficulties and aspects of the intervention which facilitated or hindered engagement and change. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with London-based young people who had taken part in MST. A constructivist version of grounded theory analysis was employed. Culture-specific theoretical codes emerged; understanding the family culture and the practitioner acting as a cultural broker, consideration of acculturation differences within the family, exploring the young person’s cultural identity and reflecting on cultural differences in the therapeutic relationship. Findings suggest potential advances to MST practice to meet the needs of minority ethnic young people, including the importance of appropriate training and supervision, sensitively working with salient cultural issues such as the impact of acculturation, and consideration of the role of therapist ethnicity and culture.

Highlights

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is a family- and community-based intervention for young people who exhibit antisocial behaviour (Henggeler & Borduin, 1990)
This study aimed to explore the unique perspectives of second-generation young people, to support MST treatment when working with families of diverse cultural backgrounds
Some words used by young people when describing ‘culture’ included; ‘rules’, ‘traditions’, ‘activities’, ‘beliefs’ and ‘religion’

Summary

Introduction

Multisystemic therapy (MST) is a family- and community-based intervention for young people who exhibit antisocial behaviour (Henggeler & Borduin, 1990). MST was developed in the US and has been extensively researched, implemented globally (Henggeler & Sheidow, 2012) and endorsed as a culturally competent intervention (Brondino et al, 1997). This assertion is based on studies which have included relatively high percentages of minority ethnic families (Butler et al, 2011; Curtis et al, 2004). Second-generation young people have a unique experience of growing up in dual-cultured families. To ensure consistency in the context of existing research, the terms ‘minority ethnic’ and ‘secondgeneration’ are used (Sewell, 2009) with the understanding that these definitions do not capture the full essence of the constructs to which they refer

Objectives

Results

Conclusion