Cultural Competence DIscourse in the Journal of the American Medical Association

• In Event: 262 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01.

Abstract

Barzansky and Gevitz (1992) documented the historical changes to the medical curriculum from 1910 to 1985. They found that time devoted to basic sciences and emphasis on laboratory teaching had declined as new subjects are incorporated. Changing the medical education curriculum is significant because it changes the socialization process of becoming a physician (Becker, Geer, Hughes and Strauss 1961). Recently “cultural competency” has gained significant traction as a strategy to improve the quality of health care, and address racial/ethnic, class, and LGBTQ healthcare disparities (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, and Park 2005; Campinha-Bacote 2002; Cohen and Goode 1990). Major sociological perspectives on the training of medical students was by Samuel W. Bloom and Howard Becker during the 60s and 80s. The aim of this study is to provide a contemporary perspective contributing to the sociological literature. I examined eighty-nine articles published in the Journal of American Medical Association, JAMA, concerned with cultural competence to examine the discourse. Qualitative Discourse Analysis reveals the articles concerned with cultural competence 1) marshaled the term in rather vague ways, often not defining it and 2) reduce the concept of cultural competence to communication and literacy skills, incorporating the “other” albeit in often stereotypical ways, or transform it into something about the culture of medicine. The framing around cultural competence seems to fail to address issue of power and get to the crux of the issues around health disparities.

Author

• Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman, University of New Mexico