New England AIDS Education and Training Center: ContentPages

Cultural Competence & Humility and HIV

Background Information About Cultural Competence and Health

Think Cultural Health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (OMH)) – Think Cultural Health is an OMH initiative that provides health and health care professionals with information, continuing education opportunities, and resources to learn about and implement Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards.

National Center for Cultural Competence (Georgetown University (NCCC)) – The mission of the NCCC is to increase the capacity of health care and mental health care programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems to address growing diversity and persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity. The NCCC website has an extensive resource section with links to cultural competence resources.

Sexual Health Cultural Competence Resources (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – Tools and resources for providing appropriate sexual health services to meet the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of culturally diverse populations.

Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) – This guide emphasizes the importance of addressing all people inclusively and respectfully. These principles are intended to help public health professionals, particularly health communicators, ensure their communication products and strategies adapt to the specific cultural, linguistic, environmental, and historical situation of each population or audience of focus.

HIV-Specific Resources on Cultural Competence

Cultural Competency (Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, HRSA) – Selected resources to address ways that clinics and other HIV service providers can identify and address bias to improve communication with diverse clients.

BESAFE Cultural Competency Model (National Minority AETC) – Although these resources are more than 10 years old, they still contain much valuable HIV-specific information about culturally competent health care for key population groups.

Selected Education and Training Materials

Tools and Guides

Cultural Humility & Reducing Stigma and Discrimination Provider Handbook (Southeast AETC, March 2020) – This resource is an educational tool meant to address gaps in knowledge related to cultural humility, to demonstrate the necessity of drawing on these concepts and guidelines to improve patient outcomes, and to identify resources for further learning and dialogue. It includes four modules: how stigma leads to sickness; understanding cultural competence and cultural humility; people-first language; and dimensions of gender and sexuality.

Pocket Guide to Open-Ended Sexual Health Questions (Pacific AETC, January 2022) - Printable guide to asking open-ended sexual health questions includes information regarding creating a welcoming clinical environment, preparing to take a sexual history, questions to ask during a sexual history, the 5 P's, and resources for further information.

Talking Points: The Resource Guide for Facilitating Stigma Conversations (National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) - This microsite includes videos, tools and tips on how to implement conversations around HIV stigma and discrimination.

Education with CME/CNE

National HIV Curriculum: Key Populations Module (AIDS Education and Training Center, University of Washington) – This curriculum module includes information about factors associated with health inequities and future directions for reducing HIV-related health disparities among key population groups, including racial and ethnic minority populations, sexual and gender minority populations, adolescents and young adults, women, and incarcerated persons.

Recorded Webinars and Slides

Exploring Cultural Competence and Humility in the Care of HIV Patients (National Center for Health in Public Housing, March 2020) – Four-part video webinar series designed to help move organizations past cultural stereotypes and biases – such as those based on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity – to offer client-centered services with cultural humility to populations living with or impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Implications of Communication on Providing Care to the LGBTQ Community (South Central AETC, October 2020) – These training slides outline steps for improving communication in healthcare for the LGBTQ community, including around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

RECORDING CHPC Training Webinar: Intersectional Stigma Reduction-A Strategy for Implementing HIV Prevention and Treatment Innovations in Health Facilities (New England AETC, February 2023) – Recorded webinar about how to reduce intersectional stigma for implementing HIV prevention and treatment innovations in health facilities.

Recording: Language Matters: Person Centered Language in HIV Scientific Communications (New England AETC, June 2023) - Recorded webinar that discusses the evolution of language in HIV publications, media, and research proposals and the importance of using “people first” language. The speakers provide resources and guides to help you use inclusive language and non-stigmatizing language.

Recorded AIDS Seminar-Imagining the Other: Creative Writing to Mitigate Bias (New England AETC, January 2022) Recorded webinar that identifies particular patient/behavioral challenges in HIV care and discusses using creative writing to mitigate bias and enhance perspective taking.

The Intersection of HIV and Mental Health: Addressing Stigma and Implicit Bias in the Healthcare Setting (Pacific AETC, June 2021) - Training slides about the intersection of people with HIV, substance use, and mental health conditions. The focus is on increased education on cultural competency, barriers to care, implicit bias, cultural sensitivity, and addressing stigma to reduce barriers to patient care and improve retention in care among the vulnerable populations who are most impacted by health disparities.

HIV Stigma and LGBT Communities (Pacific AETC, April 2021) - Training slides that explore the current landscape of HIV stigmas in LGBT healthcare and how HIV stigmas can act as barriers to care and review culturally appropriate models and practices that address HIV-related stigmas.

Understanding and Addressing Stigma in Healthcare Settings (Southeast AETC, January 2021) – These training slides outline types and dimensions of stigma, review how HIV-related and intersectional stigma experienced by clients can affect HIV prevention and treatment behaviors and health outcomes, identify the variety of interventions and tools that can be used in healthcare settings to reduce stigma, and review the Finding Respect and Ending Stigma around HIV (FRESH) intervention methods and pilot results.

Podcasts

PODCAST: Stigma, HIV, and SUD (New England AETC, February 2022) – This podcast recording covers stigma and the ways stigma impacts health outcomes in the context of HIV, substance use disorder (SUD), and other chronic diseases; research findings on associations between stigma prevention and HIV and SUD treatment outcomes; and intervention tools for reducing stigma and enhancing resilience to stigma.

PODCAST: Trauma-Informed Care for Healthcare Providers (New England AETC, April 2021) – This podcast defines trauma and the principles of a trauma-informed approach and how to apply trauma-informed principles to improve care.