Providing culturally responsive care: Technical assistance project

Addressing the cultural and linguistic competence of health services must be an integral approach to eliminating health disparities. California Family Health Council (CFHC) conducted assessments of California's publicly-funded family planning providers regarding their cultural and linguistic competence. Preliminary findings showed that providers: 1) may not be aware of the full range of resources available to them to improve cultural and linguistic competence and 2) may feel overwhelmed making needed organizational and programmatic changes to improve quality of service to diverse client populations. The Providing Culturally Responsive Care: Technical Assistance Project seeks, through a 12-month process of self-assessment and strategic planning, to help agencies improve compliance with federal regulations and standards and to enhance provider knowledge and skills and organizational supports to effectively meet the needs of diverse and underserved communities. Participating agencies will self-assess their organization in the following domains: Training and Staff Development; Agency Capacity; Health Education; and Administrative Support. Technical assistance is provided to support agencies in the following: adopting and or implementing cultural and linguistic competency related protocols; improving provider training and staff development related to cultural and linguistic competency; identifying resources and materials appropriate to the community served; and developing administrative supports in leadership and policy to institutionalize the identified cultural and linguistic competency needs of the agency. The following long-term goals are expected: improved client satisfaction with services provided; improved access to health care services for the medically underserved; and improved utilization of preventive health services.