Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos : Issues and Examples of Culturally Competent Services

Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos gives organizations and service providers the necessary skills, knowledge, and therefore, attitudes to deliver services within the cultural context of the Latino client—individual, family, or community. Contributors explore how the field of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse (ATOD) has attempted to operationalize culturally competent services for Latinos in the United States. You''ll see how the achievement of cultural competence is greatly influenced by the interplay of numerous factors. Among these factors, culture-specific issues and needs are identified and analyzed with a special focus on alcohol.

In Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos: Issues and Examples of Culturally Competent Services, you will learn how to design and improve services for Latinos with substance abuse problems by understanding that the cultures and personal backgrounds of your clients are crucial to the counseling process. This text will also show you how these service skills apply to the individual, family, or an entire community.

Studies show that, according to patients, culturally sensitive and responsive practitioners are generally more credible, trusted, and effective. Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos takes into account several different aspects that will help you develop these traits and provide successful services for Latinos dealing with alcohol or other drug problems. You’ll gain valuable insight into:

• the five elements that are vital to a successful ATOD (Alcohol, tobacco and Other Drug) service--multiculturism, resilience/strengths, competence, community capacity development, and community participation--plus a detailed explanation of why they are needed
• step-by-step instructions for using three methods, supervision, inservice training, and consultation, as means of providing ongoing learning of cross-cultural competencies to practitioners
• why key factors such as economic background, gender, and sexual orientation need to be taken into consideration for ATOD services to be effective
• demographic patterns and case studies of Latino users and abusers of alcohol and other drugs that illustrate the growing number of Latinos in need of ATOD services
• why the practitioner needs to be aware of how family importance, values attached to cooperation versus competition, sociability, respect, and action-oriented problem-solving play a role in effective services for Latinos
• the need for practitioners to understand how ethnic identity, biculturality, Spanish language fluency, gender-specific role expectations, skin color, and overall sense of self can affect the success of services for Latino teenagers
• how excessive marketing of alcohol to Latino communities, lack of representation, and a lack of community involvement are key barriers to successful ATOD services for Latinos

Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos also discusses Latino mens’and womens’individual needs concerning substance abuse. One of the topics addressed, the loss of self-esteem, has been found to be a contributing factor to alcohol use and abuse for Latinas. It offers ways you can promote self-esteem in your Latina clients by focusing on their cultural heritage and pride. In addition, this text takes a unique look Latina lesbians and how training through educational and agency internship programs can promote awareness to your clients’ special needs concerning substance abuse. Alcohol Use/Abuse Among Latinos will help you provide all of your Latino clients with efficient and culture-friendly services for resisting or overcoming the abuse of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.