Examines the efficacy of an integrated family systems approach to mental health services delivery with Southeast Asian refugee families. The family systems approach can accommodate a range of therapeutic interventions as well as the belief system of the client, and it does not require that the clinician possess a vast amount of information about each client?s cultural background. This approach focuses on family interactions and problem resolution or reduction. A Vietnamese graduate student at the University of Iowa School of Social Work, also a refugee, was trained to implement the approach and began working with families referred by social agencies. The family systems approach, with its emphasis on short-term intervention and de-emphasis of pathology, was found to be effective with Southeast Asian refugee families because it also respects privacy and does not seek to effect change too quickly. In addition, the integrated family systems model was understandable to trainees who were being instructed to apply this approach in the therapeutic setting: the method of gathering information about a presenting problem was clear-cut, and the steps to planning interventions were clearly delineated.
