Culturally Competent Health Care: Cultural Competency Training for Healthcare Providers

Cultural competency training is designed to:

• Enhance self-awareness of attitudes toward people of different racial and ethnic groups
• Improve care by increasing knowledge about the cultural beliefs and practices, attitudes toward health care, healthcare-seeking behaviors, and the burden of various diseases in different populations served
• Improve skills such as communication

Summary of Task Force Recommendations & Findings

The Community Preventive Services Task Force finds insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of cultural competency training for health care providers to increase the cultural competence of healthcare systems because only one study of fair quality qualified for review.

Task Force Finding

 

These findings were based on a systematic review of all available studies, conducted on behalf of the Task Force by a team of specialists in systematic review methods, and in research, practice and policy related to the social environment.

Economic Review

An economic review of this intervention was not conducted because the Task Force found insufficient evidence to determine its effectiveness.

Supporting Materials

• Analytic framework [PDF - 731KB]- See Figure 1 on page 72
• Research gaps
• Summary evidence tables [PDF - 30KB]
• Included studies
• Search strategy

Publications

Anderson LM, Scrimshaw SC, Fullilove MT, et al. Culturally competent healthcare systems: a systematic review. [PDF - 731KB] Am J Prev Med 2003;24(3S): S68-79.

Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Recommendations to promote healthy social environments. [PDF - 72KB] Am J Prev Med 2003;2003;24(3S):S21-4.

Task Force on Community Preventive Services. The social environment. [PDF - 386KB] In : Zaza S, Briss PA, Harris KW, eds. The Guide to Community Preventive Services: What Works to Promote Health? Atlanta (GA): Oxford University Press;2005:329-84.

More Community Guide publications about Promoting Health Through the Social Environment

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Sample Citation

The content of publications of the Guide to Community Preventive Services is in the public domain. Citation as to source, however, is appreciated. Sample citation: Guide to Community Preventive Services. Culturally competent health care: cultural competency training for healthcare providers. www.thecommunityguide.org/social/competencytraining.html. Last updated: MM/DD/YYYY.

Review completed: October 2001