Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2012;40(1):113-8.
Even as forensic psychiatrists have increasingly contemplated the role of culture in forensic psychiatry, practical cultural evaluations remain an under-theorized area with scant research. Older conceptions of cultural competence may risk stereotyping the evaluee on the basis of perceived group characteristics. This article offers a revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV) Outline for Cultural Formulation for use in forensic psychiatry by adjusting its formal guidelines with recommendations from the forensic mental health literature. As a person-centered method of conducting the interview, the Cultural Formulation probes cultural explanations of identity, illness, social support, functioning, and interaction with the medical and legal systems. In line with other psychiatric subspecialties, future research in forensic psychiatry can examine the extent to which the Cultural Formulation helps trainees with cultural competence, reconfigures diagnosis and treatment, and alters legal outcomes such as length of sentence.
即使法医精神病学家越来越多地思考文化在法医精神病学中的作用，实际的文化评估仍然是一个理论不足的领域，研究甚少。较旧的文化能力观念可能会根据感知到的群体特征对被评估者进行刻板印象。本文对《精神障碍诊断与统计手册》第四版修订本（DSM-IV-TR）法医精神病学文化评估纲要进行了修订，方法是根据法医心理健康文献中的建议，调整其正式准则。作为一种以个人为中心的访谈方法，文化评估探究了身份、疾病、社会支持、功能以及与医疗和法律系统的相互作用的文化解释。与其他精神病学专科一样，未来在法医精神病学领域的研究可以检验文化评估在多大程度上帮助培训生具备文化能力，重新配置诊断和治疗，并改变刑期等法律结果。
