Cultural Literacy In Health Care

"Health literacy is fundamental to quality care." (Dr. David A. Kindig, chair of the Committee on Health Literacy, the Institute of Medicine). The aim of this assignment is to inform the reader of health literacy, what health literacy is and why it is important to all individuals, how effective communication is important in culturally diverse healthcare settings, highlights the importance of the relationship of health literacy to effective communication in a culturally diverse health care environment and highlights the issues both positive and negative and challenges for health literacy in regards to effective communication in a culturally diverse healthcare setting.
Health Literacy can be described as the way individuals obtain, process and

understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health orientated decisions. Health Literacy is varies for each individual, as it strongly relates to the persons own communication skills, and they way that the individual is spoken to by the Health professional. (Singleton,K,2009) The navigation and ability of health services, is included in health literacy frameworks, what clients know about the biomedical understandings of their health and illness, and also in terms of the services, systems and resources which are vacant for them to access help in consultations over health and sickness, and their ability to contact and use those systems. Having an understanding of the disease process, ability to use and understand technology, social networking and connections, self-efficiency and motivation regarding health issues are included in the Health Literacy definition. (Lowell,A,2014) Health literacy includes a mindfulness of and the ability to navigate differences between the cultures of the health system and the public. Also it includes an awareness of and the aptitude to minimize the power inequities between the health system and the public.
Improving health literacy can enable correct informed choices, reduce further health risks, increase the prevention of disease and illness, allows the individual to understand the health system and what is available to the person, improves patient safety, betters the patient care, can reduce the amount of preventable complications and deterioration, and improves quality of life (Somnath,S,2008).
Effective communication between patients and health care providers is a vital element to quality health care. Becoming aware of patients attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that can impact on patient care, will help health care providers improve access to and quality of individual care. Health care providers must develop a strategic plan for the improvement of the individuals care, then implement and evaluate the plan to continuously improve progress toward achieving cultural competency goals. To become culturally competent, a health service or each individual health professional or system needs to; value diversity, institutionalise cultural knowledge, have the capacity for cultural self-assessment, be conscious of the dynamics that occur when cultures interact and adapt service delivery so that it reflects an understanding of the diversity between and within cultures. This can involve challenging practitioner cultural assumptions, developing empathy for patients and colleagues with a different view and trying to develop the necessary skills to ensure that appropriate communication and interaction occurs within the consultation to result in improving the patient’s quality of care. (Markova,T,2007)
Culture refers to the erudite, shared and transmitted knowledge of values, beliefs and life choices of a particular group that are generally transmitted intergenerational, and influences thinking and decisions, and actions in patterned or definite way. Culture influences the patients health beliefs and behaviours, this includes, perceptions of locus of control, preferences, communication norms and prioritization of needs, their understanding of physical and mental illness and of the roles of the individual family and community. Patients from cultural minority groups can be subjected to the effects of low health literacy than patients from the more dominant culture because of interactions between literacy, cross- cultural communication barriers including language, experience of bias. (Higgins,P,2009)
Low health literacy, cultural barriers and limited English proficiency have been coined the “triple threat” to effective communication (Paul M. Schyve, 2007).) Language in its many forms is a primary purveyor of culture, yet it does so in ways that are not always easily translated. Limited English proficiency (LEP) is the restricted ability to read, speak, write or understand English by patients for whom English is not the primary language. Language and Culture provide the context for comprehension of health information. The culturally bound beliefs, values, and preferences a person holds influences how the individual interprets the health care message, knowing about a patient’s language and culture is key for understanding how health literate the person is in a given situation.
The concept of cultural competency has a positive effect on patient care delivery by enabling health care professionals to provide services that are respectful of and responsive to health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs of a range of diverse patients.

Cultural competency is critical in reducing health disparities and improving access to high quality health care. Included below are some of the ways cultural competent healthcare organizations and environments benefit the individual patients and the health care professionals, increased mutual respect between the patients and the patients family and the health care professional, increased trust will encourage patients participation and involvement in health care practices. Promotes the inclusion of all family and community members, assists patient and patient’s families in their care and understanding the choices they have, encourages the patients and the family to take responsibility for their individual health. Cultural competency, improves patient health, increases preventative care for the patient as they are aware of the condition they are in, saves the company money as the amount of repeated duties will be reduced, cost saves in the treatments and legal costs and decreases. The health care company will benefit from being culturally competent as it incorporates different perspectives, ideas and strategies into the decision making process, Decreases barriers that slow down the healing process, moves toward meeting legal and regulatory guidelines and improves efficiency of care and

services.
Effective communication in cross cultural health care settings is very important to acknowledge and respect, as health care based decisions can be based on what their culture believes in or what they believe in. It is important that all health care professionals caring for the specific individual work together, so that the individual can build trust within the team and feel a sense of comfort for their cultural beliefs and their decisions are respected. Providing the patient and family with education that is communicated to their health literacy level is the aim. When health care professionals discuss important issues with the patients, the patients must be able to understand what the health professional is saying to help understand and improve their illness, whilst respecting the patient’s culture. Understanding the health professionals goal, will enable the patient to have quality of care.