Psych CASC / OSCE · Professional — cultural formulation and Indigenous mental health
Cultural formulation interview with an Aboriginal woman — CASC communication station
MRCPsych/FRANZCP-style CASC: person-centred CFI skills, SEWB awareness, non-racist communication, risk, and collaborative plan with optional Aboriginal Health Worker involvement.
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Station brief
Format. Communication station, approximately 7–10 minutes active time after reading. You are the community psychiatry registrar seeing a new referral. [1]
Candidate instructions. Build rapport. Explore cultural identity as she defines it. Elicit her explanatory model of the current problem. Screen for suicide risk. Explore social and emotional wellbeing domains and experiences of racism or service mistrust without forcing disclosure. Offer Aboriginal Health Worker/ACCHO involvement with consent. Avoid stereotypes and checklist ethnography. Agree a collaborative plan. [1][2][3]
References5ShowHide
- [1]Lewis-Fernández R, Aggarwal NK, Lam PC, et al. Feasibility, acceptability and clinical utility of the Cultural Formulation Interview: mixed-methods results from the DSM-5 international field trial Br J Psychiatry, 2017.PMID 28104738
- [2]Krishan Aggarwal N, Chen D, Lewis-Fernández R If You Don't Ask, They Don't Tell: The Cultural Formulation Interview and Patient Perceptions of the Clinical Relationship Am J Psychother, 2022.PMID 35430870
- [3]Dudgeon P, Agung-Igusti R, Derry K, Gibson C Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional well-being Am Psychol, 2025.PMID 41379665
- [4]Kleinman A, Eisenberg L, Good B Culture, illness, and care: clinical lessons from anthropologic and cross-cultural research Ann Intern Med, 1978.PMID 626456
- [5]Curtis E, Loring B, Jones R, et al. Refining the definitions of cultural safety, cultural competency and Indigenous health: lessons from Aotearoa New Zealand Int J Equity Health, 2025.PMID 40346663