Conducting a Culturally Informed Neuropsychological Evaluation

Daryl Fujii, PhD, ABPP-CN, is a staff neuropsychologist at the Veterans Affairs Pacific Island Health Care Services Community Living Center and adjunct faculty for the Department of Psychiatry, University of Hawaii. He received his PhD from the University of Wyoming in 99 , interned at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration Medical Center, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. Dr. Fujii earned his diplomate in clinical neuropsychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology in 999 and was elected to fellow status of APA in 2 . His research interests include cross-cultural neuropsychology, schizophrenia, geriatrics, secondary psychosis, and psychosis secondary to traumatic brain injury, for which he is an international forensic consultant. He has more than 5 publications, including two edited books: The Spectrum of Psychotic Disorders: Neurobiology, Etiology, and Pathogenesis (2 7) and The Neuropsychology of Asian-Americans (2 ). Dr. Fujii is currently a co-chair of the national VA Psychology Training Committee, Multicultural Diversity Committee and chair of the VA Pacific Island Health Care Services and VA Central California Health Care System.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Foundations: Attitudes, Perspective, and Conceptual OverviewChapter : A Respect for CultureChapter 2: Conceptual Guidelines: APA, AACN, AERA, and NCMAPart II:  PreparationChapter 3: Creating a Cultural ContextChapter 4: Conceptualizing Goals and Cultural ConsiderationsChapter 5: Estimating Premorbid FunctioningChapter : Strategies for Test Selection and Data CollectionChapter 7: A Mini-Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests With Cross-Cultural ValidityPart III:  Evaluation and Report WritingChapter 8: Conducting the EvaluationChapter 9: Interpretation and Case FormulationChapter : Writing the Report and Providing FeedbackAppendix: Cultural ResourcesReferencesIndexAbout the Author

This book is a must-read for clinicians and researchers alike. It is replete with interesting and informative examples, along with supportive references, concerning differences in learning experiences, values, and communication styles that affect how the culturally different client approaches and performs in the testing situation. It provides conceptual and practical elements that will enhance obtaining valid neuropsychological test results and interpreting findings from people with different backgrounds than our own. There is no way one can read this book and fail to come away with increased sensitivity and practical knowledge.- Robert K. Heaton, PhD, ABPP-CN, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego Each passing year brings a richer patient diversity to the office practices of North American neuropsychologists, whether related to ethnicity, important beliefs and values, language, or more broadly construed as cross-cultural diversity. Fujii has compiled a thoughtful, scholarly, and yet practical and generously instructive text that will assist trainees and practicing clinicians in meeting the challenges of cross-cultural diversity via culturally informed neuropsychological practice.- Jerry J. Sweet, PhD, ABPP, Director, Neuropsychology Service, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Teaching Affiliate of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Evanston, IL