Patients from all backgrounds have varying beliefs when it comes to health care. For example, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or Hispanic individuals report having significantly greater concerns regarding becoming dependent on medications, fears about addictiveness and toxicity, and worry about the effects of long-term use compared to White and non-Hispanic individuals.1 Understanding a patient’s social and cultural identities and the impact that has on their health beliefs is an important factor in providing culturally competent care.
Key Principles:
- Create an understanding of patients’ social identities.
- Engage with patients in a way that respects their culture and background.
Included in this section:
“Any medication … the bottle says, ‘Hey, after a while be careful about long-term use.’ So I’ve always been concerned … one of the things I’ve expressed upfront was what’s the span of time that I need to be on this? Don’t tell me forever, because I know at some point this is going to have some type of impact on something in my body.”
– Self-identifying Black female living with Crohn’s Disease
Reference
- 1. Shah S, Shillington AC, Kabagambe EK, et al. Racial and ethnic disparities in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: an online survey. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2023; izad194. doi:10.1093/ibd/izad194.