Liberty University

HSCI715 Cultural Topic Selection Assignment

HSCI 715

Cultural Competency in Health Sciences

Jonathan Giles

19th February 2023 

Significance of Cultural Competence to Access of Care among African Americans in the US

Outline

Introduction

In the United States, the concept of cultural competence is fundamental especially with reference to healthcare. As Spector (2017) observes, the right to access healthcare services in the US is a fundamental right for every citizen. In a bid to provide for this right, the federal legal framework instructs all healthcare service providers to dispense services without any form of discrimination based on any disparities such as age, gender and race, level of education, language competences or ethnic background. However, a review of trends of healthcare access literature in the US indicate that access to healthcare as well as the quality of care is differentiated among different groups of people (Dickman et al., 2022). Such categorizations as ethnicity, financial capacity, social classifications, gender, race and cultural beliefs and expectations about health influence access to health services. In this light, whether an individual is a member of the minority groups or not is a significant determinant on how easy one accesses healthcare in the US. Although this trend is against the primary expectation of the Federal Law and the principles of equality embraced in the US, current studies indicate that its prevalence cannot be ignored (Squires, 2018). As a consequence, the need to investigate what are the causes are is critical. This discussion has the potential to pave way to solutions that may see every citizen in the US accessing healthcare equally. The conversation is especially important in the US because of the growing diversity as a result of globalization and war in various parts of the world (Spector, 2017). As a result of these factors, people holding cultural beliefs about health that differ from the norms in the US are increasing. Amongst the many diverse groups of people in the US are the African American. As a result of the social, historical and economic factors, this group of people differ from the others. It is classified as a minority group. As a consequence, members of African American community groups are vulnerable to differentiated treatment in the US. Besides, the distribution of social determinants of health also influence their capacity to access care (Hudelson & Vilpert, 2022). The historical and social economic factors are associated with erosion of trust and communication values among people from various cultural backgrounds in the US. Besides, language and literacy challenges also contribute to the failed attainment of equality in the US. Besides, people hold varying belief systems with regard to health. These factors combined with lack of cultural competence among healthcare providers as well as the African Americans further compound the problem of healthcare access for this group. In this light, this essay will examine the significance of cultural competence in enhancing care access among African Americans in the US because this is an important aspect of the American value and principle of equality.

Main Points

1. Social economic and historical factors influence on access to care among African

Americans in the US (Dickman et al., 2022).

a) Historical injustices

b) History of discrimination in various sectors including access of care

c) Poor access to employment which leads to incapacity to access the costly and quality healthcare services

d) Discriminated distribution of social determinants of health

2. Communication and trust has a critical influence on how African Americans relate with healthcare providers (Olani et al., 2023).

a) Relationship between communication trust and healthcare is crucial to attain equality

b) Development of trust depends on language use competences

c) Some African Americans still experience language barriers that limit their access to healthcare.

3. Health beliefs and practices differ across various groups of people (Schwei et al., 2016).

a) African Americans hold different beliefs and practices from other majority groups in the US.

b) Cultural and religious background influence health beliefs and practices

c) Cultural competence facilitates healthcare providers to not only understand but also respect the differences in health beliefs and practices thus promoting equality of access to healthcare in the US (Hudelson & Vilpert, 2022). 

References

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Woolhandler, S. (2022). Trends in health care use among black and white persons in the US, 1963-2019. JAMA Network Open, 5(6), e2217383. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.17383

Hill, S. A. (2016). Race, racism, and health outcomes. Inequality and African-American

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Schwei, R. J., Del Pozo, S., Agger-Gupta, N., Alvarado-Little, W., Bagchi, A., Chen, A. H., Diamond, L., Gany, F., Wong, D., & Jacobs, E. A. (2016). Changes in research on language barriers in health care since 2003: A cross-sectional review study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 54, 36-

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Squires, A. (2018). Strategies for overcoming language barriers in healthcare. Nursing

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