223888 Providing culturally responsive care: Technical assistance project

Monday, November 8, 2010

Veronica Estrella Murillo, MPH , Information and Education, California Family Health Council, Los Gatos, CA
Rafael Rodriguez, MPH , Information and Education, California Family Health Council, Los Angeles, CA
Donna Bell Sanders, MPH , Information and Education, California Family Health Council, Bakersfield, CA
Anita Aguirre, MPH , Information and Education, California Family Health Council, Los Angeles, CA
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.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Describe the steps in a healthcare agency self-assessment process to integrate cultural and linguistic competency into clinical practice to provide diverse and medically underserved communities high quality health services.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the program coordinator for this project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.