Important psychocultural factors in the delivery of mental health services to lower-class Puerto Rican clients: a review of recent studies.

Literature on the psychological orientation of lower class Puerto Rican clients, their cultural value system, and their expectations for mental health services was reviewed. First, lower-class Puerto Rican client's psychocultural orientation to therapy was seen as relatively dissimilar to that of the typical middle-class American client. Second, differences in expectations of therapy between the Anglo therapist and lower-class Puerto Rican client were described. Factors affecting the minimal use of mental health services by the lower-class Puerto Rican community were also discussed. Recommendations were offered to aid in the amelioration of these problems for Puerto Rican clientele.