Culture, power, and practice in a psychosocial program for survivors of torture and refugee trauma.
Based on a case study of anthropological fieldwork at a small program located in the north-eastern USA, this article critically examines the development of culturally sensitive psychosocial models of care for survivors of torture and refugee trauma in western countries of resettlement. Fieldwork identified several unresolved tensions in the bicultural model of counseling, psychosocial models of care, and the field of refugee mental health. Despite efforts to develop an innovative treatment model, the culturalization of care and the emphasis placed on meeting social needs in interventions resulted in maintaining conventional relations of power within the mental health professions.
McKinney
Kelly
K
McGill University, Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Montréal, Québec, Canada. kamckinn@mindspring.com
D003469:Culture; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D011209:Power, Psychological; D016730:Program Development; D011584:Psychology; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014104:Torture