Cultural Competency in Health Care: Evaluating the Outcomes of a Cultural Competency Training Among Healthcare Professionals

Background:  In recent years scholars and policy makers have paid considerable attention to the topic of cultural competency, especially as it relates to the delivery of healthcare in the United States. Scholarly research has focused on the potential role of cultural competency training for healthcare providers in reducing health care disparities. This presentation will discuss the results of a pilot study carried out to examine the effectiveness of a cultural competency training program designed to improve the knowledge and skills of healthcare providers and administrators engaging in cross-cultural clinical encounters. Methods: Post-pre data was collected from 43 healthcare professionals (health care providers and health administrators) who attended a 4-hour cultural competency workshop. The aim was to answer a key question: Does cultural competency training produce a measurable change in knowledge and skills relating to the care of patients from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds? Conclusions: Study results show that that cultural competency training improves the knowledge and skills of health care providers and administrators.  The study offers a reliable, innovative, and time-efficient strategy—post-then pre method—for evaluating the outcomes of short cultural competency training programs.