Training for overcoming health disparities in mental health care: Interpretive-relational cultural competence
Year: 2013
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Cultural and racial diversity is increasingly becoming a reality in many countries worldwide, to the extent that most every mental health professional will treat patients from other countries, cultures and or races.Research from both the U.S. and Europe indicates that immigrants and racial minority patients receive a lower quality of care, which may in part be related to a lack of professional competence.Few, if any, professional training programs prepare trainees to work with racial or cultural diversity.Cultural competence training represents an approach to reduce health disparities framed in the context of the conceptual approach to culture, diversity, and difference.This article presents an interpretive-relational approach to cultural competence conceptualized as a process of self-introspection rather than a knowledge gathering.Disparities are understood to stem from both cultural and racial difference, and to that end, the basic concepts of culture and race are defined and their relationship to health disparities explored.Cultural competence training, it is argued, must strive to provide trainees with the tools necessary to overcome the principle barriers to the reception of quality mental health care, and can do so by focusing on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for this process.Because of cultural differences in the way in which mental distress is experienced, expressed, and explained, and because of cultural variation in the expectations of both course and treatment, clinicians must develop a knowledge base about these underlying mechanisms.As racial prejudice contributes significantly to health disparities, it is essential that training is provided that effectively works to reduce the negative impact of racial prejudice rather than a narrative focused on its suppression. Key words: cultural competence
Authors: Adil Qureshi, Francisco José Eiroá‐Orosa
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2607261519