Susan Kim, MPH, Asian Health Coalition of Illinois, 4554 N. Broadway Suite 305, Chicago, IL 60640, 773.878.0761, susan@asianhealth.org

Recently the Institute of Medicine in its landmark study of racial/ethnic health disparities recommended cultural competence education for health care providers as one of many ways to reduce the disparities that may result from provider patient interaction. Despite the growing body of evidence illustrating the need for cultural competence education the real efficacy of such programs has yet to be measured adequately; as a result, the demand for cultural competency education has not met the call made by researchers and advocates in the public health field.

The Asian Health Coalition of Illinois (AHCI), in response to the need for culturally competent services in the Chicago area, launched the Opening Doors Cultural Competency training program in January of 2001. The goal of the training program is to instill health care providers in the Chicago area the awareness, knowledge, and skills to provide quality health care service to patients of different cultural backgrounds.

In order to advocate for the importance of culturally competent healthcare, AHCI incorporated an evaluation process to document the impact of the training on providers. The presentation will focus on the evaluation process and findings, which uses a pretest/post test model to measure the immediate impact of the training on participants and follow up telephone interviews to document actual change in behavior. Data collected from participants reveal that the training program has led to significant gain in knowledge and skills by participating providers that has translated to behavior change that may lead to improved health outcomes for clients.

Learning Objectives:

• • Recognize the important link between cultural and linguistic competence and racial/ethnic health disparities and quality.
  • Articulate one method of evaluating a cultural competence training program for healthcare providers using quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Discuss the impact the Opening Doors program has had on participant providers’ ability to provide quality services to clients of diverse cultural background.

Keywords: Cultural Competency, Methodology

Related Web page: www.asianhealth.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Asian Health Coalition of Illinois
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.