Cultural Responsiveness Assessment Measure (CRAM)
Dr. Peter Smith, Dr. Kylie Rice, and Dr. Ryan Davies have developed and validated a measure to assess cultural responsiveness. This measure, the Cultural Responsiveness Assessment Measure (CRAM) was created in response to requirements by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) that mental health practitioners and aspiring practitioners need to work and to prepare to work within a culturally responsive framework. This measure is a valuable tool for all health professionals.
The CRAM takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete and the link is below:
The CRAM has been approved for use by University of New England Human Research Ethics Committee, and it is intended that the CRAM will be freely available for research, practice, education, and training. For further information Dr. Rice can be contacted by email Kylie.Rice@une.edu.au or phone 02 6773 4259 and Dr. Smith can be contacted at Peter.Smith@une.edu.au or phone 6773 1904.
Privacy and Confidentiality:
All information collected will remain confidential. To preserve anonymity, it is preferred that participants don’t use a university email address, to ensure that the information collected is anonymous. No participants will be identifiable in any thesis, publication, or presentation of the results and only the researchers named in this document will have access to the data.
Value and Significance of the CRAM:
An assessment instrument that can validly measure cultural responsiveness will enable practitioners and students to understand their strengths and areas for further development and will guide them towards better preparedness for work with Indigenous clients. There has been a long history of mental health services in Australia being culturally unsafe for Indigenous people and the CRAM makes a significant contribution to turning that around and ultimately to closing the gap in mental health.
Citation:
Smith, P., Rice, K., Schutte, N., Usher, K. (2024). Development and Validation of the Cultural Responsiveness Assessment Measure (CRAM): A self-reflection tool for mental health practitioners when working with First Nations people. International
Journal of Social Psychiatry 70(1), 190-200.
