| Abstract: | Psychotherapy research guidelines have a profound impact on research, training, and practice, and they also influence reimbursement decisions that can have ethical and legal consequences. Furthermore, research guidelines have implications for the treatment of culturally diverse groups. Unfortunately, these implications have often been overlooked. Therefore, this article contrasts the impact of two prominent research guidelines on the development of culturally sensitive psychotherapies: (a) empirically supported treatments (ESTs) developed in 1995 by the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology; Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, 1995), and (b) evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP) developed by the APA (Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures,2006) Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice. Although overall we believe that EBPP is more responsive to the needs and characteristics of culturally diverse groups, ESTs also have many strengths. As the cultural implications of research guidelines are better understood, researchers and clinicians will be able to more effectively advance the development of culturally sensitive evidenced-based psychological treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
