Spanish Clinical Proficiency Evaluation
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What’s your Spanish for mental health competency?
There are an estimated 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. Receiving care in one's native language is crucial to the efficacy of services, as it strengthens trust and the therapeutic relationship, increases treatment retention, improves diagnostic accuracy, reduces the likelihood of prescribing inappropriate medications, increases the probability of appropriate psychoeducational placement, and is associated with more significant symptom reduction. The need for mental health clinicians with proficiency in Spanish is crucial to the provision of ethical and effective care.
But how do we know if we are ready to provide services in Spanish?
To date, there is no standardized assessment to determine Spanish for mental health competency, and each clinical site uses different criteria to determine if a provider has the requisite skills to provide services in Spanish. Some spaces require a written examination, some an informal conversation with a Spanish-speaking supervisor, and some rely on the person themselves to determine what services they can provide in Spanish.
PASEO provides a service that helps you determine your Spanish for mental health level via an in-house clinical proficiency exam. The 30-minute evaluation, conducted via Zoom, looks at Spanish skills in six core areas: 1) Orientation to treatment, 2) implementation of basic helping skills & motivation enhancement, 3) psychoeducation, 4) implementation of a therapeutic skill, 5) clinical comprehension, and 6) grammar and pronunciation. The assessment is designed to be transdisciplinary (appropriate for clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, and psychologists) and transtheoretical.
The assessment is dual rated by two bilingual psychologists. Results are received within one week, and include:
Score on each of the proficiency areas, and an overall score
Recommendations for how to improve your skills across areas
If advanced clinical proficiency is met, a certificate of language level that can be used to prove competency and advocate for bilingual differentials
The PASP-MH is significant more accurate in determining ability to provide mental health services in Spanish when compared to a standardized, widely-used measure of oral language proficiency (The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, or OPIc), and then to self-ratings of language level.