Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems

Equity is an important principle of health care in Australia, and redesigning health services to meet the needs of culturally marginalised groups has the potential to improve accessibility to psychotherapy. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of an ethno-specific service and a specialist...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sue Bertossa, My Phuong Sramek, Kate Fairweather, Sharon Lawn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia 2022-07-01
Series:Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.59158/001c.71195
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849762799791636480
author Sue Bertossa
My Phuong Sramek
Kate Fairweather
Sharon Lawn
author_facet Sue Bertossa
My Phuong Sramek
Kate Fairweather
Sharon Lawn
author_sort Sue Bertossa
collection DOAJ
description Equity is an important principle of health care in Australia, and redesigning health services to meet the needs of culturally marginalised groups has the potential to improve accessibility to psychotherapy. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of an ethno-specific service and a specialist treatment service to provide an evidence-informed intervention to treat Vietnamese Australian individuals experiencing gambling problems. Employing a clinical case audit tool and drawing on the evidence of 33 participants, the study identified which features of therapeutic practice had the most impact on retention and treatment completion. Moderate but influential adjustments to the delivery of a standard behavioural treatment program improved access, treatment adherence, and success for Vietnamese Australians experiencing gambling problems. These findings have significant implications for health care provision in a culturally diverse nation. Results highlight the importance of service adaptation to address under-utilisation and under-representation of psychotherapy services by culturally marginalised groups due to language and cultural barriers.
format Article
id doaj-art-fd3dc3dff9b34c89aa6fecbe78be4806
institution DOAJ
issn 2201-7089
language English
publishDate 2022-07-01
publisher Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia
record_format Article
series Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia
spelling doaj-art-fd3dc3dff9b34c89aa6fecbe78be48062025-08-20T03:05:38ZengPsychotherapy and Counselling Federation of AustraliaPsychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia2201-70892022-07-0110110.59158/001c.71195Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling ProblemsSue BertossaMy Phuong SramekKate FairweatherSharon LawnEquity is an important principle of health care in Australia, and redesigning health services to meet the needs of culturally marginalised groups has the potential to improve accessibility to psychotherapy. This paper describes the collaborative efforts of an ethno-specific service and a specialist treatment service to provide an evidence-informed intervention to treat Vietnamese Australian individuals experiencing gambling problems. Employing a clinical case audit tool and drawing on the evidence of 33 participants, the study identified which features of therapeutic practice had the most impact on retention and treatment completion. Moderate but influential adjustments to the delivery of a standard behavioural treatment program improved access, treatment adherence, and success for Vietnamese Australians experiencing gambling problems. These findings have significant implications for health care provision in a culturally diverse nation. Results highlight the importance of service adaptation to address under-utilisation and under-representation of psychotherapy services by culturally marginalised groups due to language and cultural barriers.https://doi.org/10.59158/001c.71195
spellingShingle Sue Bertossa
My Phuong Sramek
Kate Fairweather
Sharon Lawn
Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia
title Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
title_full Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
title_fullStr Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
title_full_unstemmed Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
title_short Meeting the Needs of a Culturally Diverse Nation: An Evaluation of a Behavioural Program Adapted to Treat Vietnamese Australians Experiencing Gambling Problems
title_sort meeting the needs of a culturally diverse nation an evaluation of a behavioural program adapted to treat vietnamese australians experiencing gambling problems
url https://doi.org/10.59158/001c.71195
work_keys_str_mv AT suebertossa meetingtheneedsofaculturallydiversenationanevaluationofabehaviouralprogramadaptedtotreatvietnameseaustraliansexperiencinggamblingproblems
AT myphuongsramek meetingtheneedsofaculturallydiversenationanevaluationofabehaviouralprogramadaptedtotreatvietnameseaustraliansexperiencinggamblingproblems
AT katefairweather meetingtheneedsofaculturallydiversenationanevaluationofabehaviouralprogramadaptedtotreatvietnameseaustraliansexperiencinggamblingproblems
AT sharonlawn meetingtheneedsofaculturallydiversenationanevaluationofabehaviouralprogramadaptedtotreatvietnameseaustraliansexperiencinggamblingproblems