Patient-centered culturally sensitive health care: model testing and refinement.

OBJECTIVES

This article presents the results of an empirical test of a literature-based Patient-Centered Culturally Sensitive Health Care Model. The model was developed to explain and improve health care for ethnically diverse patients seen in community-based primary care clinics.

DESIGN

Samples of predominantly low-income African American (n = 110) and non-Hispanic White American (n = 119) patients were recruited to complete questionnaires about their perceived health care provider cultural sensitivity and adherence to their provider's treatment regimen recommendations.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Patients completed written measures of their perceived provider cultural sensitivity, trust in provider, interpersonal control, satisfaction with their health care provider, physical stress, and adherence to provider-recommended treatment regimen variables (i.e., engagement in a health promoting lifestyle, and dietary and medication adherence).

RESULTS

Two-group path analyses revealed significant links between patient-perceived provider cultural sensitivity and adherence to provider treatment regimen recommendations, with some differences in associations emerging by race/ethnicity.

CONCLUSION

The findings provide empirical support for the potential usefulness of the Patient-Centered Culturally Sensitive Health Care Model for explaining the linkage between the provision of patient-centered, culturally sensitive health care, and the health behaviors and outcomes of patients who experience such care.