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Researchers have found that minority
patients with HIV infection receive better care and have better outcomes if
their doctors and healthcare providers are “culturally competent.” The
researchers defined cultural competence as a combination of awareness,
attitudes, skills, and behaviors related to healthcare providers’ ability to
care for diverse groups of patients.
Researchers studied 45 healthcare
providers and 437 patients at four HIV clinics in Baltimore, Detroit, New York,
and Portland, Ore. The medical professionals rated their cultural competence,
and researchers assessed patients’ quality of care, including whether they were
taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), whether they kept up their treatment, and
their viral load.
Results show that when minority
patients were treated by providers with medium or high cultural competence,
they were more likely to be on ARVs, adhere to treatment, and manage their
condition. Also, non-white patients treated by less culturally competent
providers were less likely than white patients to be on ARVs, manage their
medications well, or have a suppressed viral load. Non-white and white patients
treated by more culturally competent healthcare providers had similar treatment
and outcomes.
Findings suggest that training
interventions or efforts to diversify healthcare providers increase their
cultural competence and can help reduce minority disparities in the quality of
care and health of diverse patient populations.
The full report, “Primary Care
Provider Cultural Competence and Racial Disparities in HIV Care and Outcomes,”
was published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, (2013;
doi:10.1007/s11606-012-2298-8).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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