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Teaching Culturally Competent Communication with Diverse Ethnic Patients and Families

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New Challenges in Communication with Cancer Patients

Abstract

Cultural competence is a critical skill set for improving the quality of health care, working toward equity in its availability, and eliminating health disparities among diverse population groups. Eliminating sociocultural, language, and health literacy barriers to effective clinician/patient and family communication could significantly improve the quality of appropriate and acceptable cancer care provided along the entire cancer care continuum from screening and early detection, timely and state-of-the art treatment, quality palliative care, long-term follow-up, and supportive end-of-life care.

This chapter will define culture and cultural competency, and then provide suggestions to conduct more culturally based communication strategies to build trust between the patient and his or her family members and the clinician. Once trust has been established, it will be easier respectfully to create the basis for more productive dialogue and enable the patient, family, and clinician to negotiate more mutually agreeable goals for care.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian American Studies, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Marjorie Kagawa-Singer PhD, MA, MN, RN, FAAN

Authors
  1. Marjorie Kagawa-Singer PhD, MA, MN, RN, FAAN
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Correspondence to Marjorie Kagawa-Singer PhD, MA, MN, RN, FAAN .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Medicine, New York University Medical School, First Avenue 530, New York, 10016, USA

    Antonella Surbone

  2. Institute of Oncology, Zaloška 2, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia

    Matjaž Zwitter

  3. Institute of Oncology, Zaloška 2, Ljubljana, 1000, Ljubljana-Center, Slovenia

    Mirjana Rajer

  4. 38th Street 2838, Astoria, 11103, New York, USA

    Richard Stiefel

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Kagawa-Singer, M. (2013). Teaching Culturally Competent Communication with Diverse Ethnic Patients and Families. In: Surbone, A., Zwitter, M., Rajer, M., Stiefel, R. (eds) New Challenges in Communication with Cancer Patients. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3369-9_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3369-9_30

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3368-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3369-9

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