228143 A “culture card” for providers in Indian Country: Expanding on success

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Michael Ahmadi, LCDR, USPHS, MPH, CHES , Office of Communications, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Andrew Hunt, CAPT, USPHS, MSW, LICSW , Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Tricia L. Penalosa, MHS, CHES , IQ Solutions, Inc., Rockville, MD
  
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) envisions a Nation where all people, regardless of culture, race, or ethnicity, have access to mental health promotion, treatment, and recovery support services. This presentation showcases how SAMHSA fostered this vision by using community and Federal collaborations; multiple distribution channels; and data analytics to provide cultural competence information to the people who need it most—workers who deliver mental health services to clients of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) heritage. With input from Public Health Service Officers, AI/AN behavioral health professionals, and AI/AN community members, SAMHSA developed a pocket card to enhance cultural competence among SAMHSA staff providing mental health services in Indian Country. The value of SAMHSA's Culture Card: A Guide to Build Cultural Awareness: American Indian and Alaska Native was so great that other Federal agencies asked to distribute copies to their staff. The card's popularity beyond these internal audiences prompted SAMHSA to broaden distribution to providers serving AI/AN communities in a variety of settings. Using multiple print- and Web-based channels, including those of collaborating Federal agencies, SAMHSA distributed nearly 80,000 culture cards in less than 1 year. The Agency then leveraged its customer and distribution data, U.S. Census data, and business intelligence and geomapping software to learn the extent to which the Culture Card reached the organizations and geographic areas with the greatest need for the product. Review of state profiles and other data analytics reports suggested additional opportunities for outreach and distribution.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify four health marketing and distribution channels and strategies—including interagency collaborations—that a Federal agency can use for targeted outreach to help disseminate a successful product to new, appropriate audiences. 2. Describe how leveraging internal and external data sources with business intelligence and geomapping software can help assess the success of marketing and distribution efforts in reaching key audiences and inform future efforts.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I work as a health communications manager with responsibility for marketing and promoting publications for the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.
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.

Back to: 4338.0: Cultural competency communication / Mass media influence