The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #73440

Guadalupe Pacheco, MSW, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 600, Rockville, MD 20852, 301-443-3379, gpacheco@osophs.dhhs.gov and Cindy Brach, MPP, Center for Organization and Delivery Studies, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2101 E. Jefferson Street 6W33, Rockville, MD 20852.

This presentation will describe the second of a two-part project intended to develop a research agenda for identifying, examining, and linking culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health care to health impacts and outcomes. The first part, initiated in FY 1997, resulted in the promulgation of a set of 14 national standards for CLAS in health care- organized across the three themes of Culturally Competent Care, Language Access Services, and Organizational Supports for Cultural Competence-as well as a draft research agenda on the relationship between CLAS interventions and health impacts and outcomes. The second part completed the research agenda through: consensus development on the parameters and specifics of CLAS for the purposes of conducting health outcomes research; literature review on CLAS and relationship of CLAS to health outcomes; identification of key research questions addressed/ not addressed in current research as well as contextual issues to promote needed research; revision of the draft research agenda; and development of an educational and outreach strategy to include Internet and listserv tools to facilitate information sharing among research stakeholders. The final CLAS research agenda actually consists of a number of smaller research agendas organized into three categories-culturally sensitive interventions, language assistance, and organizational supports for cultural competence-which parallel the three themes of the national CLAS standards. Research agendas in each category contain a definition of the category, a brief synthesis of findings from the current literature, key research questions, and a discussion of methodological and policy considerations influencing future research for that area.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to:
• identify the national recommended CLAS standards for health care and the 3 themes under which they are organized;
• delineate the kinds of research needed to link the CLAS standards to health impacts and outcomes;
• describe their role in supporting such research

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Health Care Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.