Honing Cultural and Linguistic Competence | AHRQ Innovations Exchange

Honing Cultural and Linguistic Competence | AHRQ Innovations Exchange



What Is Cultural and Linguistic Competence?

Cultural and Linguistic Competence: The ability of health care providers and health care organizations to understand and respond effectively to the cultural and linguistic needs brought by the patient to the health care encounter.²

What's New on Cultural and Linguistic Competence?

PERSPECTIVE

Public- and Private-Sector Initiatives Are Reducing Health Disparities Among Children: A Conversation With Kathryn Santoro, MA, Director of Policy and Development for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation

INNOVATION PROFILE

Community Health Workers Known as Promotores Enhance Access to Culturally Tailored Services for Elderly, Low-Income Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Leading to Improvements in Mental Health

INNOVATION PROFILE

Agency Enhances Access to Culturally Competent Home Care by Providing Trained Aides to Asian American Seniors With Limited English Proficiency

QUALITY TOOL

MetLife-Project SHINE Health Literacy Initiative Publications

QUALITY TOOL

A Cultural Competency Toolkit: Ten Grant Sites Share Lessons Learned

Spotlight on Asthma

Being Aware

Health Care Disparities: Health disparities are the persistent gaps between the health status of minorities and non-minorities in the United States.³ They are also increasingly understood to refer to differences that occur due to gender, education or income, living in rural areas, or sexual orientation, in addition to race and ethnicity.⁴ Health care disparities refer to differences in health care for different populations. Two important aspects that affect health outcomes are access to health care and the quality of health care.⁵

Health care disparities are influenced by factors such as lack of access to preventative care and/or quality medical care due to cultural/language barriers, low income, lack of insurance, and geographic location among other factors. See examples of key health disparities by racial and ethnic groupin comparison with White counterparts.