A need for ethnic similarity in the therapist–patient interaction? Mediterranean migrants in Dutch mental-health care
✍ Scribed by Jeroen W. Knipscheer; Rolf J. Kleber
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2004
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 90 KB
- Volume
- 60
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0021-9762
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Evidence concerning a preference for ethnic matching in the therapist-patient dyad and the effects of ethnic matching on treatment satisfaction is equivocal. This study examined the importance of ethnic similarity in mental-health care in the Netherlands. A convenience sample of 82 Turkish and 58 Moroccan outpatients in the community mental-health care was interviewed. Quantified data were analyzed using multivariate techniques. The majority of the respondents did not value ethnic matching as important; clinical competence and compassion were considered to be more relevant than ethnic background. An ethnically dissimilar therapist treated the majority of the outpatients. Outpatients treated by a native Dutch therapist reported similar satisfaction with the services provided as those treated by an ethnically similar therapist. According to Turkish and Moroccan outpatients in Dutch mental-health care, ethnic matching is not considered to be preferential nor essential for treatment satisfaction. Other health-care characteristics such as empathy, expertise, and sharing of worldview are considered to be as important.