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The Role of Culture in Health Literacy and Chronic Disease Screening and Management

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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 May 2008

Abstract

Cultural and language differences and socioeconomic status interact with and contribute to low health literacy, defined as the inability to understand or act on medical/therapeutic instructions. Health literacy is increasingly recognized as an important factor in patient compliance, cancer screening utilization, and chronic disease outcomes. Commendable efforts have been initiated by the American Medical Association and other organizations to address low health literacy among patients. Less work has been done, however, to place health literacy in the broader context of socioeconomic and cultural differences among patients and providers that hinder communication and compliance. This review examines cultural influences on health literacy, cancer screening and chronic disease outcomes. We argue that cultural beliefs around health and illness contribute to an individual’s ability to understand and act on a health care provider’s instructions. This paper proposes key aspects of the intersection between health literacy and culturally varying beliefs about health which merit further exploration.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by grant number 1 R03 HS014086 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and by grant number R01 CA128455-01 from the National Cancer Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210030, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0030, USA

    Susan J. Shaw, Julie Armin & Katherine Orzech

  2. Research Department, Caring Health Center, Springfield, MA, USA

    Cristina Huebner

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Hartford, Hartford, CT, USA

    James Vivian

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  1. Susan J. Shaw
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  2. Cristina Huebner
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Correspondence to Susan J. Shaw.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9149-z

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Shaw, S.J., Huebner, C., Armin, J. et al. The Role of Culture in Health Literacy and Chronic Disease Screening and Management. J Immigrant Minority Health 11, 460–467 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9135-5

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