Towards Cultural Competency in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Interventions: An Analysis of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement’s Conceptualization and Integration of Culture in its MHPSS Responses

Abstract

Culture is critical to delivering effective mental health care, necessitating tailored approaches aligned with the respective cultural contexts. The rise of globalization and transcultural psychiatry highlights the importance of integrating culture comprehensively into mental health and psychosocial interventions within humanitarian contexts.

Existing research underscores the significance of culture in mental health. However, a prevailing influence of Western perspectives on mental health is evident globally, leading to the widespread implementation of Euro-American viewpoints in humanitarian fieldwork. This approach negatively impacts individuals affected by crisis by sidelining culturally grounded understandings of illness.

While several studies examine the impact of culture on mental health care, there is limited research on how humanitarian organizations perceive and incorporate culture in training materials. This study aims to examine how the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement conceptualizes and integrates culture within its mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) intervention.

I collected data from nineteen Red Cross guidebooks to conduct a thematic analysis and extract insights into the organization’s approach. I found nine themes: understanding culture through self, culture as behaviour, culture as meanings, community-based approach, assessment, planning and implementation, training, monitoring and evaluation, and universality of mental illness. My findings indicate that the Red Cross conceptualizes culture holistically, and by doing so, they aim to produce culturally relevant care. While the Red Cross emphasizes cultural relativism in its MHPSS responses, encouraging cultural competency, it also tends towards universalism when discussing mental health, reflecting the nuanced nature of MHPSS interventions. This tension highlights the complex relationship between these two perspectives in creating the Movement’s MHPSS responses and speaks to broader challenges in delivering mental health and psychosocial care in humanitarian fields. Further avenues for research lie in exploring strategies to reconcile relativist and universalist frameworks, aiming to produce seamless MHPSSs.