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Monica J. Mitchell, Chavis A. Patterson, Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Commentary: Increasing Cultural Diversity in Pediatric Psychology Family Assessment Research, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Volume 36, Issue 5, June 2011, Pages 634–641, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsr019
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The clinical and validation studies published in this issue are very timely, as they continue to refine theoretical models and evidence-based family assessment measures for vulnerable pediatric chronic populations. The studies in this issue individually and collectively advance our understanding of what predicts and informs parental and family outcomes across a number of pediatric chronic illness groups. These findings will also be critical to advancing family-based clinical practice and treatments for children with chronic illnesses (Alderfer et al., 2008; Kazak et al., 2007). In total, the articles increase the potential to include nontraditional families, use multi-method and validated assessment tools, and to integrate family measures with other assessment tools so that we can take a comprehensive approach to assessment in our work as pediatric psychologists. While this special issue of JPP advances our understanding of family assessment and processes related to pediatric conditions, it also reveals the continued need to improve cultural sensitivity in pediatric and family assessment (Alderfer et al., 2008; Shudy et al., 2006). This editorial will discuss the challenges and opportunities for enhancing diversity in pediatric psychology family assessment research, as well as the implications for how culturally sensitive family assessment informs clinical practice and research for culturally diverse populations (Clay, Mordhorst, & Lehn, 2002; Ochieng, 2003; Wood, 2005).
