Heritage assessment: An important step towards building cultural competency

Increasing diversity of the United States (US) population is a reality in the 21st century. The Census 2000 indicates that one out of four persons in the US are non-Whites with Hispanic Americans constituting the largest (12.5% of total population) and fastest growing minority group. The Healthy People 2010 goal of “eliminating all health disparities” and the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care highlight the need for all health care providers to be client-centered and cross-culturally competent. This necessitates health care professionals to be able to elicit, understand, and work with traditional health practices used by their clients.

This session describes the utility and outcomes of a heritage assessment (HA) used in a 100-level college health course as a step towards building cultural competency. Students are initially provided the necessary background for understanding the role of culture in health and illness. A theoretical framework for conducting the HA is emphasized. Each student carefully chooses an interviewee who is much older than him/her and belongs to a different gender and race/ethnicity. Students conduct a comparative analysis of their own and their interviewees' responses to the HA. They then summarize their observations in a narrative noting the similarities and differences and offer rational reasons for them.

A content analysis of the narratives from over 150 students was performed to identify key benefits from the HA assignment. The HA, its evaluation, and resources to learn more about heritage of different cultural groups will be shared.