Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Presented by
Gayathri Ramprasad, MBA, CPS
Founder & President, ASHA International
www.myasha.org
Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Learning Objectives:
 Explore concepts of culture, cultural legacies, social
inheritance, and power distance index
 East vs. West: Explore variations in cultural value systems and
its impact on recovery
 Learn 3 steps to create culturally-responsive, personcentered, recovery-oriented, holistic systems of care
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Culture:
Culture is a shared, learned, symbolic system of
values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and
influences perception and behavior – an
abstract "mental blueprint" or "mental code."
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Cultural Legacies:
Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots
and long lives. They persist, generation after generation,
virtually intact, even as the economic, social, scientific and
demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished,
and they play such a role in directing attitudes and behavior
that we cannot make sense of our world without them. These
attitudes and behaviors are passed on from generation to
generation through social inheritance.
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Culture impacts overall wellbeing:
Culture is central to recovery. A person’s cultural legacy
influences how they perceive mental illness and how much
stigma they attach to it. Culture also influences whether or
not a person seeks help, when and where they seek help,
their social supports and coping skills.
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
East vs. West: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Eastern (agricultural) Systems:
Traditional Society Values
Western (industrialized) Systems:
Modern Society Values
Family/group oriented
Individual oriented
Extended family
Nuclear/blended family
Multiple parenting
Primary relationship: Marital bond
Emphasis on interpersonal
relationship & harmony
Emphasis on self-fulfillment and
self-development
Well-defined family member’s roles
Flexible family member’s roles
SOURCE: Asian American & Pacific Islander Outreach Resource Manual, NAMI
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
East vs. West: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Eastern (agricultural) Systems:
Traditional Society Values
Western (industrialized) Systems:
Modern Society Values
Status & relationships determined
by age and role in family
Status achieved by
individual’s efforts
Favoritism toward males
Increasing opportunities for females
Authoritarian orientation
Democratic orientation
Suppression of emotions
Expression of emotions
Fatalism/Karma
Personal control over environment
SOURCE: Asian American & Pacific Islander Outreach Resource Manual, NAMI
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
East vs. West: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Eastern (agricultural) Systems:
Traditional Society Values
Western (industrialized) Systems:
Modern Society Values
Harmony with nature
Mastery over nature
Cooperative orientation
Competitive orientation
Spiritualism
Materialism, consumerism
Superstitions
Science
Past, present and future orientation
Present, future orientation
SOURCE: Asian American & Pacific Islander Outreach Resource Manual, NAMI
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
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East Vs. West
Mental Health: A Cross-Cultural perspective
Medical Model vs. Medico-Religious, Supernatural or Personal Weakness Model
Mental/Emotional Symptoms vs. Somatization of Symptoms
Treatment is based on science vs. science, spirit and superstition
Treatment team is comprised of mental health professionals vs. mental health
professionals, shamans, priests, etc.
Decisions about treatment are made by the patient vs. the patient and their family
(depending on the Power Distance Index of the individual within the family)
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
Power Distance Index (PDI)
Power Distance Index is a measure of attitudes toward
hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture
values and respects authority.
SOURCE: Hofstede’s Dimensions
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Power Distance Index & It’s Impact on Mental Health
Physician
Psychiatrist
Social Worker
Therapist
PRP
Father/Husband
(Men in the Family)
Mother
(Women in the Family)
Son
Daughter
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
State of Mental Health – East vs. West
A Look at Key Indicators
SOURCE: Time Asia
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
3 Steps to Create Culturally-Responsive, Person-Centered,
Recovery-Oriented, Holistic Systems of Care:
1.
2.
3.
Skills Training: Engage in ongoing cultural competency training to develop
the necessary skills to design and implement effective cross-cultural
interventions
Capacity Building: Invest in culturally-responsive research &
development, programs and services, promote training &recruitment of
linguistically and culturally-responsive providers and peers
Inclusion: Include patients, families and community members in the
design and delivery of linguistically, culturally-responsive services
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
RESOURCES:
 USPRA’s Principles of Multicultural Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services
http://knol.google.com/k/uspra-staff/principles-of-multiculturalpsychiatric/9hcd4qaqyqq0/6#Capacity
 National Center for Cultural Competence
 http://nccc.georgetown.edu/
 NAMI Multicultural Action Center
 http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Multicultural_Support&Template=/TaggedPage
/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=56&ContentID=25443
 Cultural Competency in mental Health Peer-run Programs & Self-Help Groups: A Tool to
Assess & Enhance Your Services
 http://www.consumerstar.org/pubs/SC-Cultural_Competency_in_Mental_Health_Tool.pdf
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Culture Counts:
Variations in Cultural Value Systems and it’s Impact on Recovery
RESOURCES:
 Strategies for Building Multicultural Competence in Mental Health and
Educational Settings by Madonna G. Constantine
 Interviewing Clients across Cultures: A Practitioner's Guide by Lisa
Aronson Fontes, PhD
 Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters
 Standing in the Shadows: Understanding and Overcoming Depression in
Black Men by John Head
 Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey through Depression by
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
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I Wish you wellness!
~ Gayathri Ramprasad, MBA, CPS
Founder & President, ASHA International
Phone: 971 340 7190
E-mail: gayathri@myasha.org
Websites: www.myahsa.org, www.mindbeautiful.com
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