Providing quality health care to culturally diverse populations requires multidimensional approaches and interventions. All levels of health care systems require the execution of these interventions to realize quality care for different patients of mixed ethnicity and culture (Abbott, 2015). The desire to implement such interventions calls for research that evaluates intervention strategies and the expected intervention outcomes (Abbott, 2015). Such evaluations help to formulate and implement programs and services that reduce health disparities and enhance good health besides promoting cultural competencies.
Data from the United States Census Bureau indicated that the total estimate of African Americans was 46.3 million in 2015, showing a rise of 1.3% from the previous year (Abbott, 2015). Further, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that indicated reduced mortality rates amongst older African Americans (Abbott, 2015). This situation points to health disparities among people at the lower socioeconomic level. Often, African Americans suffer health disparities that include stroke, cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
Most importantly, identifying the causes of health disparities among African Americans goes a long way to strategizing tackling cultural competency in the provision of health care. Data shows that African Americans account for half of the homeless population (Handtke et al., 2019). Around 80% of obesity cases are among African American women (O’Rourke & McDowell, 2018). The risk of contracting diabetes is twice as high in African Americans compared to the rest of the American population (Reyes, 2020). Further analysis indicates that African Americans suffer the highest prevalence of hypertension globally (O’Rourke & McDowell, 2018). Lastly, stroke cases amongst women of African American origin are twice that amongst Caucasian women and death occurs earlier and more frequently (O’Rourke & McDowell, 2018). Thus, healthcare providers need to identify these causes to help them deal with this challenge in healthcare provision.
There are various underlying causes of these disparities among the population. These problems revolve around poverty, unemployment, poor housing, drug abuse, violence and crime, single parenthood, lack of green space and food desert, and discrimination (Abbott, 2015). Cultural and religious beliefs influence the approach, further exasperating the disparity (Clark et al., 2018). For instance, these beliefs lead to fear of bypass surgery and invasive surgical procedures (Clark et al., 2018).These situations have consequently caused lower utilization of health services and health care, insufficient health insurance cover, besides the level of care given.
Various strategies are helpful to encourage promoting culturally competent care for African Americans. Such methods will primarily prevent cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and stroke amongst rural African Americans. Any attempt to address these disparities will be possible by first addressing health care providers’ cultural competencies and sensitivity (Jongen, 2018). The providers of health services need to give the best quality care that alleviates past negative experiences. Such a treatment will likely influence future engagement in own health care.
Another strategy involves creating awareness through training and proper communication that inculcate the requisite knowledge. Such an intervention will help develop trust and relationships between the healthcare providers and the patient resulting in the desired outcomes (Handtke, 2019). Further, this intervention will help to counter disinformation, misconception, limitations, and fears. For instance, part of African Americans believes and fear that certain surgeries may lead to cancer spread, fear of addiction that may result from using opioids and anesthesia, and organ donation (Abbott, 2015). Therefore, it is essential to create awareness to alleviate the trust deficit between doctors and patients.
Lastly, it is imperative to encourage the participation of African Americans in cancer clinical trials. Statistics indicated low participation by African Americans in clinical research (Rogers, 2018). From the experiences of African Americans being forcefully used as guinea pigs in research on diseases like Syphilis, such fear could still be engrained in them (Rogers, 2018). A different and friendly approach would motivate them to engage in such trials voluntarily. (Rogers, 2018). Researchers have faced challenges in addressing and investigating cancer care’s current trends and safety (Rogers, 2018). Patients’ participation in their care will help alleviate anxiety and motivate them to raise their concerns.
References
Abbott, L. S. (2015). Evaluation of Nursing Interventions Designed to Impact Knowledge, Behaviors, and Health Outcomes for Rural African‐Americans: An Integrative Review. Public Health Nursing, 32(5), 408-420.
Clark, E. M., Williams, B. R., Huang, J., Roth, D. L., & Holt, C. L. (2018). A longitudinal study of religiosity, spiritual health locus of control, and health behaviors in a national sample of African Americans. Journal of religion and health, 57(6), 2258-2278.
Handtke, O., Schilgen, B., & Mösko, M. (2019). Culturally competent healthcare–A scoping review of strategies implemented in healthcare organizations and a culturally competent healthcare provision model. PloS one, 14(7), e0219971.
Jongen, C., McCalman J., & Bainbridge, R. (2018). Health workforce cultural competency interventions: a systematic scoping review. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1-15.
O’Rourke, M., & McDowell, M. (2018). Providing culturally competent care for African Americans. American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology. Web.
Reyes, M. V. (2020). The disproportional impact of COVID-19 on African Americans. Health and human rights, 22(2), 299.
Rogers, C. R., Rovito, M. J., Hussein, M., Obidike, O. J., Pratt, R., Alexander, M., & Warlick, C. (2018). Attitudes toward genomic testing and prostate cancer research among Black men. American journal of preventive medicine, 55(5), S103-S111.