OBJECTIVE This study investigated the current state of health sciences libraries' provision of culturally competent services to support health professions education and patient care and examined factors associated with cultural competency in relation to library services and professional development. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. Data were collected with a survey questionnaire that...

While there are abundant descriptions of socioeconomic inequalities in preventive health care, knowledge about the true mechanisms is still lacking. Recently, the role of cultural health capital in preventive health-care inequalities has been discussed theoretically. Given substantial analogies, we explore how our understanding of cultural health capital and preventive health-care inequalities ...

An emergency medicine (EM)-based curriculum on diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency can also serve as a mechanism to introduce topics on health care disparities. Although the objectives of such curricula and the potential benefits to EM trainees are apparent, there are relatively few resources available for EM program directors to use to develop these specialized curricula. The object ...

AIM To investigate healthcare professionals' perceptions of caring for people from ethnic minorities with poor or no English language skills when accessing health care. METHOD Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 34 healthcare professionals to identify their perception of barriers encountered by those with poor or no English language skills. FINDINGS Five main themes were identi...

KEY TERMS acculturation • cultural competence • discrimination • homophobia • integration • prejudice • segregation • stereotyping LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you will be able to: • Identify various cultural and ethnic groups in the United States and Canada. • Compare the concepts of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping and their relationship to stigmatization. • Def...

BACKGROUND The countdown database to track the maternal and child survival rate, as set by the Millennium Development Goal, reported recently that India's progress is not satisfactory in reducing newborn and child deaths. DATA SOURCES Articles on neonatal and child mortality in India were accessed from PubMed/MEDLINE. Risk factors associated with neonatal and child mortality were reviewed in ...

International cancer care efforts are focusing increasingly on why cancer typically is diagnosed at later stages in the developing world. In Middle Eastern countries, cancer usually is diagnosed at a more advanced stage of disease. For example, in Palestine, 42% of cases were reported stage III and 18% were stage IV. Receiving a cancer diagnosis and seeking treatment is influenced by cultural v...

BACKGROUND Cultural competency is a multifaceted intervention approach, which needs to be implemented at various levels of health-care systems to improve quality of care for culturally and ethnically diverse populations. One level of health care where cultural competency is required is in the provision of health promotion services and programs targeted to diverse patient groups who experience h...

Addressing language and cultural nuance is required to improve the quality of care among all patients. The tenth version of the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS) recommends implementing ongoing assessments to integrate specific actions into measurement and continuous quality improvement activities. To this end, we have created the In...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Full access to medical care includes cultural and linguistic access as well as financial access. We sought to identify cultural and linguistic characteristics of low-income, ethnic minority patients' recent encounters with health care organizations that impede, and those that increase, health care access. METHODS We conducted four focus groups with ethnically homogen...