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DEFINING HEALTH DISPARITIES Health disparities, or health inequalities as they are sometimes called, refer to differences in quality of health and health care across racial and ethnic groups. Recent research findings have shown health inequities in African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders and Latinos when compared to whites. Though there is a debate about the exact causes of these disparities, existing research suggests that the causes include factors such as socioeconomic conditions, quality of care, access to health care, linguistic barriers and cultural influences. More recently, health disparities have been attributed to structural or institutional factors and the broader context of institutional racism and other inequities in our society. Given these findings, multiple programmatic and policy strategies and research agendas have been recommended to reduce or eliminate health disparities. The importance of systematically identifying and monitoring disparities by enhancing the quality, reliability and completeness of an organization’s data collection and evaluation infrastructure are critical first steps. Though more work needs to be done to determine their effectiveness in eliminating health disparities, developing cultural and linguistic competency policies and practices in health services are highly recommended. METHODOLOGY This annotated bibliography was created through a targeted review of the published literature on cultural and linguistic competency and health disparities in the fields of health care, medical education, nursing and public health. With the exception of several seminal articles on health disparities and cultural and linguistic competency, the literature review was limited to the last 10 years. The academic literature was located via the bibliographic search engine PUBMED. Additionally, books, reports and web-based resources from government agencies and foundations were identified through contact with experts in the field and review of secondary referenced materials included in all documents. The inclusion criteria for the materials were: 1) the resource was cited in multiple resources, 2) the resource was written by noted authors or organizations in the field of health disparities and cultural and linguistic competency and 3) the models and material contained within each resource could be immediately accessible and useful to organizations working on these issues. HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE This annotated bibliography is meant to be used as a resource guide for organizations addressing cultural and linguistic competency and health disparities. Most of the resources listed are available from the Internet or a local college library or through interlibrary loan. Where applicable, web addresses have been included to facilitate obtaining the publication.
Within each of these categories, citations are listed under sections that describe the emphasis of the material. The health disparities category has two sections: 1) understanding disparities and inequality and 2) strategies to reduce disparities. The cultural and linguistic competency category has five sections: 1) assessment tools and performance measurement, 2) health and health care, 3) language access and interpreter issues, 4) mental health and 5) training and education. |
