THE CULTURALLY INFORMED FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT (CIFA) INTERVIEW - A STRATEGY FOR CROSS-CULTURAL BEHAVIORAL PRACTICE

How does a behavior therapist conduct a cognitive behavioral interview with a client from a culture or subculture different from his or her own? More specifically, how can a behavior therapist use functional as sessment to formulate culturally sensitive hypotheses regarding a clie nt's problem behaviors and controlling variables, and to select target behaviors and interventions that are culturally acceptable and likely to increase treatment effectiveness? We present a conceptual framewor k for culturally informed cognitive behavioral assessment and therapy, and offer practical guidelines for conducting functional assessment i n a cross-cultural therapy situation. The proposed Culturally Informed Functional Assessment Interview (CIFA Interview) is then applied to t he case of an intercultural marital couple with a presenting problem o f communication difficulties.