cross-racial treatment

Intervention by a professional who is of a different racial background than the client. Social workers debate whether this can be as effective as interventions within racial and ethnic boundaries but existing empirical studies, rather than advocacy statements, are inconclusive. According to Larry E. Davis and Joe Gelsomino (“An Assessment of Practitioner Cross-Racial Treatment Experiences,” Social Work, 39[January 1994], pp. 116–123), there are five potential problem areas: (1) racism may exist, (2) worker–client rapport may not exist, (3) the intervention may be inappropriate, (4) clients may believe the worker lacks understanding about the relevant racial group, and (5) clients may believe workers lack sufficient skills because of their race.