A constellation of cultural barriers impugn the delivery of effective mental health services to Hispanic children and adolescents, who experience a disproportionate incidence of mental health problems relative to other ethnic groups. Hence, there is a need to develop and evaluate culturally sensitive therapeutic modalities that bridge Hispanics' bicultural conflicts. An ongoing study established that using Puerto Rican cuentos (folktales) as bicultural modeling therapy enhanced personality functioning with children in grades K to 4. The proposed continuation application extends this modality to older children and adolescents, who frequently lack adaptive adult role models, using presentations of heroes/heroines prominent in Puerto Rican history and American society to therapeutically model positive self- and ethnic identity, successful achievement, adaptive behavior and coping with anxiety and depression.
Specific aims are to conduct research on Puerto Rican heroes/heroines for development of biographies as a therapeutic cuento modality; evaluate hero/heroine cuento therapy relative to a traditional therapy and no intervention; assess treatment interactions with gender, grade level and SES; and determine the one-year stability of therapeutic outcomes. Hero/heroine biographies will be compiled by Spanish-speaking literary/historical researchers; and psychologists will extract role behaviors to be highlighted in therapeutic activities. Puerto Rican students (N=288) in grades 5 to 8, screened for behavior problems by teacher rating, will be randomly assigned to one of three therapy conditions (hero/heroine modeling, traditional, no intervention) and participate in 20 2-hour weekly sessions. On a pre- and post-therapy basis, subjects will be evaluated with respect to achievement motivation, self-concept, Hispanic identity, conduct disorder, trait anxiety, and depression. Therapeutic outcomes will be statistically assessed immediately following therapy and one year later. Long-term objectives of this modality, therefore, are to impact on the most pressing mental health needs of Puerto Rican youngsters, who are at high risk of later disorders but are unresponsive to traditional interventions.
