CULTURAL BIAS IN ASSESSMENT

Cultural bias occurs in testing materials when test items

assess knowledge or experiences that are specific to a
certain culture. In comparison, cultural bias in the
examiner comes from expectations based on his or her
experiences and background rather than that of the
culture of the child.
Cultural bias in the mental health assessment diagnosis of
ethnic minorities has been asserted and challenged on the basis
of clinical impression and a variety of psychometric criteria. The
lack of a definitive empirical basis to resolve issues of
assessment and diagnostic bias means that the null hypothesis
(no bias or cross-cultural uniformity) prevails. This article argues
that the traditional hypothesis to be nullified should be
challenged.
Possible approach (continued) The proportion of
information from studies at high risk of bias is sufficient to
affect the interpretation of the results High risk of bias for
one or more key domains Plausible bias that seriously
weakens confidence in the results High Across studies
Within a study Interpretation Risk of bias.
Cultural assessment When caring for patients from a
different culture, it is important to find out how they want to
be treated based on their cultural values and beliefs. An
effective way to identify specific factors that influence a
patient’s behavior is to perform a cultural assessment