246841 USING Cultural Competence to Assist HEALTHCARE Providers IN UNDERSTANDING the African American PERSPECTIVE of HEALTHCARE

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Nakeitra Hill, MS, CHES , Center for Community Based Health Disparities, My Brother's Keeper, Inc, Ridgeland, MS
Angela Johnson, MPPA , Center for Community Based Health Disparities, My Brother's Keeper, Incorporated, Ridgeland, MS
Mark A. Colomb, PhD, CRA , CBA 2 Project, My Brother's Keeper, Incorporated, Ridgeland, MS
Issues: Despite advances in healthcare, African Americans (AA) are still disproportionately affected by chronic diseases. Culture has a tremendous impact on how AA respond to disease prevention messages and treatment recommendations. Cultural competence also plays a major role in the quality of care provided to AA in the healthcare system. Educating healthcare providers on how culture impacts how AA seek and receive healthcare will increase their capacity to provide culturally sensitive prevention and treatment recommendations.

Description: The African American Cultural Competence to Eliminate Health Disparities training is designed for public health professionals who provide healthcare services to African Americans. The curriculum focuses on the cultural competence continuum, a developmental process for gaining cultural and linguistic proficiency. The facilitators use role play as a method for assessing and developing the individual and organization's capacity to implement culturally appropriate healthcare services and promote culturally sensitive prevention and treatment recommendations in African American communities.

Results: The skills building course has trained 323 participants over a 4 year period from 5 different states. Program evaluation data has revealed that 80% of the participants strongly agreed that their awareness about cultural competence had increased due to the course. Additionally, 89.86% of the participants strongly agreed that they would apply the cultural competence skills taught in the class in their healthcare organizations within the next three months.

Recommendations: Training healthcare providers on how to deliver culturally competent care can have an impact on eliminating health and healthcare disparities in African Americans.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
1.Discuss how the African American perspective of health and healthcare is directly impacted by culture 2.Identify how healthcare providers can use the cultural competence continuum as an effective tool for promoting healthy minds and bodies in African American communities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I oversee programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and focused on chronic disease prevention in minority communities.
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.

See more of: Keys to a Healthy Community: The African American Perspective
See more of: Black Caucus of Health Workers