According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, “Effective health communication is as important to health care as clinical skill. To improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities.”

In order for our faculty, staff and students to learn about cultural competency and improve their skills in this area they need access to both background and foreground information. Background resources give general, in-depth information. Three background resources new to UAB Libraries’ collection are: 

• Guide to Culturally Competent Health Care by Larry Purnell, 3rd edition (2014)
• Contemporary Bioethics by Mohammad Ali Al-Bar; Hassan Chamsi-Pasha (2015)
• Culturally Adapting Psychotherapy with Asian Heritage Populations by Wei-Chin Hwang (2016)

On the other hand, foreground resources add specific element(s) to basic understanding; moreover, one must have basic knowledge for foreground information to have meaning. PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Social Science Full Text have journal articles on cultural competency.

These are just a few examples of how UAB Libraries provide access to knowledge that will change your world.