What is the impact of cultural competence training among health and mental health providers?

Evidence Database | Advanced Evidence Search | Evidence Summaries

Evidence Summary
July 2020

Evidence about the impact of cultural competence training on client health and mental health outcomes is generally inconclusive.

Five systematic reviews, including one review of reviews, all published within the past ten years, concur that existing studies lack adequate methodological rigor to draw conclusions about the impact of cultural competence training and programming. Additionally, existing studies have produced contradictory results, showing either a positive impact or no impact. These systematic reviews have examined cultural competence training in general, not specifically as it relates to resettled refugees.

Virtual and experiential refugee-specific cultural competence training approaches show promising results.

Several studies have examined changes in health care provider attitudes, knowledge, and/or skills associated with refugee-specific cultural competence training. These studies have examined virtual and/or experiential learning. The studies have found improvements primarily in providers’ attitudes such as empathy and confidence in providing care. However, these studies all used uncontrolled pretest-posttest or posttest-only designs; thus, their findings are only suggestive and promising for further research.

Websites and Databases	Population Terms	Methodology Terms	Target Problem Terms
Campbell Collaboration Cochrane Collaboration Mathematica Policy Research Evidence Aid Urban Institute Migration Policy Institute HHS OPRE ASSIA Social Services Abstracts Social Work Abstracts PsycInfo CINAHL PILOTS	refugee OR immigrant OR “unaccompanied minor” OR asylee OR “temporary protected status” OR “victims of traffick” OR “traffick victims” OR T-Visa OR U-Visa OR Cuban OR Haitian OR Amerasian	evaluation OR impact OR program OR intervention OR policy OR project OR train* OR therapy OR treatment OR counseling OR workshop OR review OR meta-analysis OR synthesis	“cultural competence”

Relevant Study	Type of Study	Strength of Evidence	Direction of Evidence
Promoting Quality Care for Recently Resettled Populations: Curriculum Development for Internal Medicine Residents	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Organisational Systems’ Approaches to Improving Cultural Competence in Healthcare: A Systematic Scoping Review of the Literature	Systematic review	Strong	Inconclusive or mixed impact
Effectiveness of Cross-Cultural Education for Medical Residents Caring for Burmese Refugees	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Innovative Training with Virtual Patients in Transcultural Psychiatry: The Impact on Resident Psychiatrists’ Confidence	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Beginning with the End in Mind: Evaluating Outcomes of Cultural Competence Instruction in a Doctor of Physical Therapy Programme	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Interventions to Improve Cultural Competency in Healthcare: A Systematic Review of Reviews	Systematic review	Strong	Inconclusive or mixed impact
Cultural Competence Dimensions and Outcomes: A Systematic Review of the Literature	Systematic review	Strong	Inconclusive or mixed impact
Reshaping Curricula: Culture and Mental Health in Undergraduate Health Degrees	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Refugees and Medical Student Training: Results of a Programme in Primary Care	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Cultural Awareness Through Medical Student and Refugee Patient Encounters	Suggestive evidence	Suggestive	Positive impact
Cultural Competence Education for Health Professionals	Systematic review	Strong	Inconclusive or mixed impact
Does Cultural Competency Training of Health Professionals Improve Patient Outcomes? A Systematic Review and Proposed Algorithm for Future Research	Systematic review	Strong	Inconclusive or mixed impact

What is the impact of cultural competence training among health and mental health providers?

Log In