Cultural Barriers to Care: Inverting the Problem

Abstract

In working with diverse populations, health practitioners often view patients’ culture as a barrier to care. Inverting this problem by viewing the barriers as arising from the culture of biomedicine provides greater direction for practice. Integral to the delivery of culturally appropriate diabetes care are practitioner competencies in specific areas of cultural knowledge, as well as specific skills in intercultural communication, tripartite cultural assessment, selecting among levels of intensity of cultural interventions (neutral, sensitive, innovative, or transformative), adapting patient education, and developing community partnerships.