Josepha Campinha-Bacote’s Cultural Competency Model examines the importance of achieving cultural competence as one of the critical factors to enhance delivery of effective and culturally responsive service. The model focuses on five primary cultural constructs, which are awareness, knowledge, skill, encounters, and desire (Henderson, Horne, Hills, & Kendall, 2018). Each of these constructs helps in determining possible disparities in health services delivery when dealing with culturally and ethnically diverse clients. The population selected for this report is Asian, specifically Indian population, living in New York City. According to the 2010 census report, Indians and Indian Americans living in New York account for 2.4% of the city's population, which makes it the most significant cultural South Asian group. The main factors contributing to disease in this cultural group are language barriers, availability of transportation, and limited access to health care services. The main change that needs to be adopted involves enhancing New York city’s cultural competence in the health department to accommodate the health needs of this population.
Major Health Disparities
The three significant health disparities that the health department in New York identifies as having the greatest impacts on the Indian population are heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Palacios, Lee, Duaso, Clifton, Norman, Richards, & Barley (2017) indicate that improving physical activity engagement is considered as one of the key contributors to preventing heart-related diseases across the United States. In New York, the state government has been engaging the Indian population to help educate them on the importance of the adequate physical activity. The expectation is that this would help reduce their risk of exposure to heart-related conditions. Brown, Alexander, Cummins, Price, & Anderson-Booker (2018) point to the need for regular health check-ups, which can only be facilitated by creating a culturally competent health environment to serve the minority population. That has applied to the Indian community, which, for a long time, has been sidelined on matters associated with accessing preventive care matching their demands to dealing with heart-related conditions.
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In dealing with the issue of diabetes, the state government in New York has focused much of its attention on promoting healthy eating as a key factor likely to reduce possible exposure to risk factors of diabetes. Prahalad, P., Tanenbaum, M., Hood, K., & Maahs (2018) indicate that consumers are expected to avoid sugary drinks and fast food products, which are some of the contributors to diabetes. The Indian population living in New York has been educated on the importance of reducing their consumption of sugary drinks, increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, and take high-cereal fibre foods. Schmittdiel, Gopalan, Lin, Banerjee, Chau, and Adams (2017) argue that healthy eating is an essential step to dealing with diabetes, as it ensures the foods consumed are of importance to the body to avoid consumption of foods that may serve as risk factors for the disease. That is a crucial area of concern for the New York State government as it pushes for a much more superior outcome in reducing diabetes in the Indian population.
Dealing with cancer in the Indian population living in New York has also been considered as a critical area of focus for the state government. One key strategy that the state government has taken involves encouraging the Indian population to minimize its consumption of substances such as tobacco. High level consumption of tobacco increases the risk of cancer (Fairfield, Peura, Herrle, Daniels, Pyle, McDonough, & Han, 2019). That has been the key reason why the state government has encouraged the Indian population to minimize its consumption of tobacco. Getting regular medical care is one of the ways to help in the identification of cancer at an early stage, which would guarantee effective treatment (Candido, De Melo, Franchi, Primo, Tedesco, Rahal, & Calmon, 2018). The state government has introduced training programs on cultural competence among health staff to encourage Indians and Indian Americans to visit these facilities.
Healthcare Strategies
Three Strategies to Improve Population’s Environment
Improving the population's environment is an important aspect that enhances effectiveness in the process of promoting proper healthcare and dealing with health disparities. The first strategy for improving the population's environment involves fostering cultural awareness. The establishment of cultural awareness programs in a community helps to improve the population's situation, considering that the majority of people become aware of the key cultural factors that impact on their health (Dave, 2019). When dealing with a diverse community, the aspect of culture impacts on the general beliefs and attitudes towards seeking health care. In that case, the strategy may help to improve the population.
The second strategy is investing in training programs for the community health workers that interact with the members of the community. Dealing with health disparities requires community health workers to have adequate knowledge and skills to deal with a wide range of people. The third strategy involves the implementation of communication channels at the community level to ensure that members of society can access information concerning their health issues. The development of such communication channels allows facilitating the exchange of health information that is vital in the management of the health issues in the population. The strategy may help in ensuring that the community is in a better position to deal with the problems of health.
Three Strategies to Improve Access to Health Care Services
Access to health care services is a critical aspect that impacts the overall health of patients. The establishment of effective strategies to improve on the entrance of health care services helps to improve the general health of a population. For the given community, the first important strategy that may be effective include using mobile clinics to reach out to the patients. In the given Indian population, the use of mobile clinics would serve as an improvement measure for access to healthcare, considering that the clinics can reach out to the patients in their different locations.
The second strategy involves focusing on availing transportation for the patients that seek to access health care services. In the Indian population, the lack of a proper transport system plays a significant role in hindering adequate access to quality care. In that case, the strategy of enhancing transportation helps to improve access to healthcare. The third strategy involves setting up a healthcare access task force that focuses on identifying challenges and issues that hinders access to healthcare services. Setting up the task forces helps to address a wide range of issues in the community that hinders efficiency (Weech-Maldonado, Dreachslin, Epané, Gail, Gupta, & Wainio, 2018). With the task force in the Indian population, there would be active development of solutions regarding access to healthcare.
Three Strategies to Improve Quality of Healthcare Outcomes
The first strategic approach to consider in seeking to improve the quality of health outcomes in population education. Education is essential when dealing with an at-risk population, as this provides the person with a clear understanding of how they ought to protect themselves from exposure to a wide array of health issues (Karnick, 2016). In this case, the focus of education would be on the knowledge of the Indian population living in New York City.
The second strategy to improving the quality of healthcare outcomes is ensuring continuity of care even after the patients have been discharged. To achieve continuity of care, one of the critical areas of focus is on enhancing access to healthcare, mainly focusing on the minority communities. One of the essential health barriers that the Indian population is facing is on lack of access to health services, which affects the overall capacity to promote continuity of care.
The third strategy involves supporting optimal treatment planning irrespective of cultural differences among patients. Lack of cultural competence in health facilities acts as a critical contributing factor for ineffective treatment, considering that it creates a situation where some patients are not likely to get the best quality of care.
Summary
The Indian population living in New York finds itself exposed to severe health disparities, such as health disease, diabetes, and cancer, attributed to health barriers that include language barriers, availability of transportation, and limited access to health care services. The strategies discussed as part of this report outline some of the approaches that the state government may need to consider as it builds on its capacity to deal with the health disparities noted.
References
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Prahalad, P., Tanenbaum, M., Hood, K., & Maahs, D. M. (2018). Diabetes technology: improving care, improving patient‐reported outcomes and preventing complications in young people with Type 1 diabetes. Diabetic Medicine , 35 (4), 419-429.
Schmittdiel, J. A., Gopalan, A., Lin, M. W., Banerjee, S., Chau, C. V., & Adams, A. S. (2017). Population health management for diabetes: health care system-level approaches for improving quality and addressing disparities. Current diabetes reports , 17 (5), 31-39.
Weech-Maldonado, R., Dreachslin, J. L., Epané, J. P., Gail, J., Gupta, S., & Wainio, J. A. (2018). Hospital cultural competency as a systematic organizational intervention: Key findings from the national center for healthcare leadership diversity demonstration project. Health care management review , 43 (1), 30-41.
