Healthcare provider cultural competency: development and initial validation of a patient report measure.

OBJECTIVE: Health researchers have proposed that provider cultural competency may contribute to health disparities. Yet, this belief continues to lack empirical support, and this is due in part to measurement issues that have plagued the cultural competency construct. In the present research, we report on the development of a theoretically grounded, generally applicable, and patient report measure of provider cultural competency.

DESIGN: Samples of predominantly African American patients (N=310) were recruited from three urban medical clinics to complete a survey about their relationship with their physician.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We examined the factor structure, validity and other psychometric characteristics of a newly proposed patient report measure of provider cultural competency.

RESULTS: Psychometric analyses supported a tripartite model of cultural competency that was comprised of patient judgments of their physician's cultural knowledge, awareness, and skill. In addition, this result was replicated across multiple clinical contexts, while also demonstrating convergent and incremental validity when correlated with measures of trust, satisfaction and discrimination.

CONCLUSION: This newly proposed measure addresses prior limitations in cultural competency measurement and may enhance future research by providing a standardized tool for use in multiple clinical and cultural contexts.