Cultural Competence Training Program For African Immigrants
BRIEF OVERVIEW
There is lack of cultural competence among health care providers regarding African immigrants and this is a major contributing factor to their poor health outcomes.
The main goal of the project was to develop a cultural competence training program for providers regarding African immigrants that would improve provider cultural competence and resource allocation and referrals for African immigrants.
The project was implemented at a primary care clinic in Garland, Texas.
The conclusion is that the intervention is effective.
Background: The number of African immigrants entering and settling in the United States increases almost every year. The group has unique health care needs and most of these needs are related to their cultural practices. However, there is lack of cultural competence among health care providers regarding African immigrants and this is a major contributing factor to their poor health outcomes. Without cultural competence training, health care providers cannot effectively tackle the health care concerns of this population.
Purpose: The main goal of the project was to develop a cultural competence training program for providers regarding African immigrants that would improve provider cultural competence and resource allocation and referrals for African immigrants.
Methodology: Madeleine Leininger’s Cultural Care Model provided the conceptual framework for the project. The project utilized educational training sessions with pre and post survey questionnaires for 3 providers, the African Immigrant Cultural Competence Toolkit, and the resources toolkit. A paired-t test and percentage calculations were used for analysis of the results.
Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in the cultural competence knowledge of providers before and after the training (F (3, 11) = 17.23, p = 0.001). All of the 187 patients who visited the clinic during the 4-week period were handed resource toolkits (100%). Providers utilized the African Immigrant Cultural Competence Toolkit 50.8% of the time (95 out of 187).
Conclusion: A cultural competence training program for providers regarding African immigrants is effective in improving provider cultural competence skills and resource allocation and referrals for African immigrants.
2