COMPUTERIZED CROSS-CULTURAL COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR HEALTH ORGANIZATION

描述（由申请人提供）：医疗差距是持久的，普遍的，不成比例地影响种族和少数民族社区。在培训保健专业人员方面的跨文化教育以及满足种族、族裔和其他得不到充分服务的人口的需要的体制政策和基础设施，对公平保健至关重要。同样，文化上有能力的医疗保健组织和服务可以对提高少数种族和少数民族的医疗平等产生强大的影响，最终减少健康差距。拟议的第一阶段研究和开发工作的目标是：1）开发一个以研究为基础、计算机辅助的跨文化和语言能力评估和行动规划工具包原型的组成部分，以帮助卫生组织提高能力，更好地满足种族和族裔少数群体的需要;以及2）测试原型的内容及其实施的可行性，为第二阶段开发完整的工具包做准备。来自五个保健组织的大约30名工作人员和代表各组织所服务的不同种族和族裔群体的24名保健消费者将参加重点小组。重点小组的关键主题将有助于根据卫生消费者和提供者遇到的情况改进评估问题和情景。来自五个组织的工作人员将试用原型，并参加网络研讨会，讨论工具包的组成部分和实用性，以及易用性，限制和完整程序设计的建议。项目分析将用于检查组织的跨文化和语言能力因素，并确定处于跨文化和语言能力准备和发展不同阶段的组织集群。拟议研究的目的与美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）的使命一致，即应用知识提高健康和生活水平，其目标是促进基本的创造性发现，创新的研究策略及其应用，作为保护和改善健康的基础。拟议的产品将推进国家少数群体健康和健康差距研究所的使命，以促进少数群体的健康，并支持减少健康差距的努力，以及国家少数群体健康和健康差距研究所对解决健康的文化能力和社会决定因素的干预和转化研究的兴趣。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Healthcare disparities are persistent, pervasive, and disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority communities. Cross-cultural education in the training of health professionals as well as institutional policies and infrastructure that address the needs of racial, ethnic, and other underserved populations are critical to equitable care. Likewise, culturally competent healthcare organizations and services can have a powerful impact on increasing the equity of care for racial and ethnic minorities to ultimately reduce health disparities. The aims of the proposed Phase I research and development effort are to: 1) develop the components of a prototype for a research-based, computer-assisted cross-cultural and linguistic competency assessment and action planning toolkit that will help health organizations increase their capacity to better meet the needs of racial and ethnic minorities; and 2) test the content of the prototype and the feasibility of its implementation to prepare for the development of the complete toolkit in Phase II. Approximately 30 staff members from five health-related organizations and 24 health consumers who represent the diverse racial and ethnic groups the organizations serve will participate in focus groups. Key themes from the focus groups will help inform the refinement of assessment questions and scenarios based on situations that health consumers and providers encounter. Staff from the five organizations will pilot the prototype and participate in a webinar to discuss the components and utility of toolkit a well as ease of use, limitations, and recommendations for the design of the complete program. Item analyses will be used to examine the organizational cross-cultural and linguistic competency factors and identify clusters of organizations at various stages of cross-cultural and linguistic competency readiness and development. The aims of the proposed research are consistent with the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to apply knowledge to enhance health and life and its goal to foster fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for protecting and improving health. The proposed product will advance the mission of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) to promote minority health and support efforts to reduce health disparities and NIMHD's interests in interventions and translational research that address cultural competency and social determinants of health.