Adapting social skills training for Latinos with schizophrenia

Abstract

Adaptation of social skills training modules, developed by Anglo-American scientist-practitioners in the USA, must be attentive to the norms and values of Latinos if the methods are to achieve acceptance and be utilized effectively with Latino clients. Examples of the adjustments that may prove utilitarian when using social skills training with Latinos include: (1) involvement of families in the skills training enterprise; (2) setting goals for skills training that encourage the interdependence of clients with their relatives in lifestyles that enable the clients to be more functional members of the family household; and (3) loosening the structure of protocols for social skills training to make the 'process' of training more consistent with the cultural expectations, preferences and habits of Latinos.