Initiative for Decreasing Disparities in Depression Pilot CME
Provider Self-Assessment CME Model Incorporating Cultural and Linguistic Competence into the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression
Statement of Need
Continuing
disparities in the diagnosis and effective treatment of
depression persist. Many of these contributing factors
can be grouped into three broad categories. First, larger
societal issues such as poverty, racism and discrimination,
unemployment and underemployment, and inadequate housing
have an impact on health/mental health status of diverse
racial and ethnic groups. Second, differential access to
services has been demonstrated to be a factor in disparities. Access
involves more than availability and affordability of
services, as it also requires an active connection with
the patient, thus acceptability of services—how they
are offered, where they are offered and by whom—is
a significant factor in access. Third, cultural and linguistic
factors have been identified as contributing to disparities
including language barriers, diverse belief systems related
to health, mental health, healing and well-being, culturally
influenced help-seeking behaviors, attitudes toward care
providers, and individual preferences and approaches
to care.
While continuing medical education (CME) can not address all of these issues, all may be positively impacted in the long run by health and mental health care providers who are aware of disparities and societal issues that contribute to them, and who have the knowledge and skills necessary to diagnose and treat depression effectively in culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations.
Project Objectives
One of the five essential elements of cultural competence is the capacity for self-assessment at both the organizational and individual levels. Based on extensive experience with an existing Web-based instrument, the Cultural Competence Health Practitioner Assessment (CCHPA), http://www11.georgetown.edu/research/gucchd/nccc/features/CCHPA.html, the NCCC proposes to develop and pilot test an approach that uses self-assessment as a learning tool for providers to: (1) heighten awareness, (2) influence attitudes toward practice and (3) motivate the development of knowledge and skills to incorporate cultural and linguistic competence into the diagnosis and treatment of depression.
Intended Audience
This CME is designed for a broad array of primary care providers that includes but is not limited to Family and Community Medicine, Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Internal Medicine, and Gerontology. The CME is also appropriate for psychiatrists seeking to add to t heir base of knowledge on cultural and linguistic competence. Lastly the CME may prove to be a useful tool to physicians in academic medicine both for their own professional development and for the courses they teach including continuing medical education.
CME Model: Seven Step Approach
The NCCC proposes to:
- convene a panel to modify the CCHPA consisting of experts in cultural and linguistic competence, psychiatry, and community and family medicine, and Web-based CME designs,
- convene a Web design and deployment team to develop a user friendly format for the CCHPA,
- update and revise the compendium of Web-based resources accordingly,
- identify a sample to pilot-test the CCHPA for usability and make any necessary revisions,
- select an appropriate sample to test the efficacy of the CCHPA in meeting its objectives,
- report on the efficacy of the CCHPA as a CME , and
- identify partners either within Georgetown University Medical
Center and/or externally to offer the CCHPA to the medical
community.
Georgetown University Medical Center Faculty and Project Consultants
Georgetown Faculty
Tawara
D. Goode, M.A.
Director, National Center for Cultural Competence
Co-Principal Investigator,
Provider Self-Assessment CME Model
Suzanne
Bronheim, Ph.D.
Senior Policy Associate, National Center
for Cultural Competence
Co-Principal Investigator, Provider Self-Assessment CME
Model
Associate Research Professor of Pediatrics
Bonnie
L. Green,
Ph.D.
Director of Research, Director of Trauma Studies,
Department of Psychiatry
Professor of Psychiatry
Joyce
Y. Chung, M.D.
Principal Investigator, Ethnographic Studies of Depression
and Help-seeking Clinical
Associate Professor of
Psychiatry
John
Richards, M.A.
Director of Information Technology,
The MCH Group
Principal Investigator, Bright Futures
MCH/EPSDT Distance Learning Project
Project Consultants
Altha
Stewart, M.D.
President/Managing Associate, Stewart Behavioral
Health Associates (SBHA) a minority healthcare
consulting group.
Initiative for Decreasing Disparities in Depression (I-3D)
The Provider Self-Assessment CME Model is project is funded
by the Initiative for Decreasing Disparities in Depression,
developed by the Praxis Partnership, a co-operative consortium
of the Schools of Medicine of University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Vanderbilt Medicine, and Indicia Medical Education, LLC. I-3D is designed to resolve the significant
gap between the mental health care services that ethnic and
racial minority groups are receiving and those they could
be receiving. It is funded by an unrestricted educational
grant from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.