Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services to Persons Born in other Countries May 6 - 8, 2002

Cross-cultural rehabilitation from the perspective of family structure

Liu, G.
Director of TBI Special Projects
AHRC-TBI Services New York, New York USA
gloriaL@ahrcync.org

Abstract

More and more literature supports the fact that families should be involved in the rehabilitation process. However, the level of family involvement can be influenced by the way a family is structured. Changes in family structure have occurred in American families, as well as in those from different cultural backgrounds, such as the Chinese. Traditional family structure can be perceived as having father, mother and children living together, to having three or four generations living under one roof. This pr esentation will give an overview of the role of families in the rehabilitation process, from the perspective of the Chinese culture. Comparison between the dominant American culture and the Chinese culture will be made to help professionals better underst and and serve individuals and families with a Chinese background.

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