Healthcare for All: Ethnicity & Culture

Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology® seeks to advance the psychological science of culture, ethnicity, and race through the publication of empirical research, as well as theoretical, conceptual, and integrative review articles that will stimulate further empirical research, on basic and applied psychological issues relevant to racial and ethnic groups that have been historically subordinated, underrepresented, or underserved.

Ethnic and Racial Studies aims to be the leading international journal for the analysis of the role of race, racism, ethnicity, migration and forms of ethno-nationalism.

Ethnicity & Disease is an international journal that exclusively publishes information on the causal and associative relationships in the etiology of common illnesses through the study of ethnic patterns of disease. Topics focus on: ethnic differentials in disease rates;impact of migration on health status; social and ethnic factors related to health care access and health; and metabolic epidemiology. A major priority of the journal is to provide a forum for exchange between the United States and the developing countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Original articles about the health and welfare of ethnic communities and also of refugees. (15-month text delay.)

ESR strives to continue to push the boundaries of Ethnic Studies from within traditional academic and professional criteria, which too often represent, present and repeat many of the flawed and unethical practices and processes that have historically harmed too many people due to white-supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity and capitalism. The journal remains committed to the critiques of such oppression while advocating for the advancement of all who have experienced harm as a result of these oppressive structures, institutions and practices. ESR is a historically important journal that was, is and will forever be driven by the promotion of social justice and the struggle to eradicate racism, sexism and class-elitism.

JECS publishes philosophical, theoretical, thematic, methodological or empirical research from all disciplines dealing with ethnicity and culture.

Nationalism & Ethnic Politics explores the varied political aspects of nationalism and ethnicity in order to develop more constructive inter-group relations, and to address the sources of both contemporary and historical identity-based conflicts.

The Race and Medicine collection reflects NEJM’s commitment to understanding and combating racism as a public health and human rights crisis. Our commitment to antiracism includes efforts to educate the medical community about systemic racism, to support physicians and aspiring physicians who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and ultimately to improve the care and lives of patients who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Sociodemographic identities, including race, culture, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation (race and culture), are recognized as important determinants of health, with significant impacts on patients’ health outcomes, but teaching medical students about this is challenging. The authors sought to identify areas for improvement in delivery of critical content about race, culture, structural inequalities, and health disparities within a set of virtual patient cases used by U.S. medical schools and develop revision guidelines.

A culturally competent health care system can help improve health outcomes and quality of care, and can contribute to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. Examples of strategies to move the health care system towards these goals include providing relevant training on cultural competence and cross-cultural issues to health professionals and creating policies that reduce administrative and linguistic barriers to patient care.

Social determinants of health, such as working and living conditions and quality healthcare access, aren’t the same for everyone. Health inequities pose a serious challenge to the healthcare community, but healthcare providers have a powerful tool at their disposal: cultural competence. Cultural competence in health care addresses the disparities that people of racially and culturally diverse backgrounds often experience. It can ensure all patients get the care they need to live healthier lives.

Although the cultural competency of US health care professionals has received considerable attention, patients’ views regarding the competency of their health care professionals have not been fully examined.3 To fill this gap, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity sponsored 5 cultural competency questions on the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).4 We used these questions to examine patients’ perspectives on the cultural competence of US health care professionals.

Can evidence-based medicine (EBM) and cultural competence in medicine (CCM) be practiced simultaneously? To answer this question we must understand what each is.

What should a doctor do if a patient refuses useful or even lifesaving care because of cultural or religious beliefs? Does respect for other cultures mean the doctor should acquiesce without a challenge?