Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine

Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine is a must-have resource for any health care professional who works with athletes and patients of diverse cultural backgrounds. This unique text stresses the importance of recognizing different cultural attitudes, beliefs, and expectations so that athletic trainers and other health care professionals can modify their professional behavior accordingly to reflect their sensitivity to their patients’ needs, ultimately resulting in a comfortable and positive health care experience for patients.

The need to provide behaviorally competent health care to diverse populations prompted the National Athletic Trainers’ Association to identify cultural awareness as a key competency for all certified athletic trainers, including entry-level athletic trainers. Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine supports this objective by defining the concept, explaining why it is important, and using examples specific to athletic trainers and other health professionals working with athletes. The text covers the various cultural competence theories and models, including the process of cultural competence in the delivery of health care services, which serves as a foundational model for the remainder of the text. Because readers will need to understand their own biases before they can begin to change them, the text offers information on analyzing and assessing one’s own cultural attitudes and behaviors. Once readers are prepared with that cultural awareness, the text builds cultural knowledge about various racial and ethnic groups, including the origin of culture, common sensitivities and conditions, possible beliefs about illness and preventive healing practices, and providing symptom management and treatments.

Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine also presents strategies for engaging in cross-cultural interactions. Readers will learn these factors:

• Cultural considerations for each stage in the physical assessment process, including taking an oral history, inspecting, observing, and palpating

• How to work through an interpreter to foster clear communication with athletes

• The conventional dress code generally expected by different cultures to cultivate a professional atmosphere

• Appropriate palpation techniques across cultures so athletes are comfortable with the type and degree of physical contact

• The differences in acceptable interaction between male and female clients

Activities throughout the text provide opportunities for students to apply their developing cultural awareness and related skills. Role-playing exercises help readers realize and understand their own cultural viewpoints, while thought-provoking “What Would You Do?” sections detail a cultural encounter and encourage the reader to reflect on the situation either individually or through in-class discussion. Each chapter also includes chapter objectives, interviews with professionals, review questions, and key terms to help students comprehend and retain the information presented. Instructors will find an online instructor guide and test package to help them plan and deliver their courses.

Cultural Competence in Sports Medicine explores methods of assessinng the overall cultural competence of a health care organization. Whether part of an institutional mission or a personal objective to become more behaviorally competent when working with athletes or patients of diverse cultures, this text will serve as a guide. Readers will begin to understand their own cultural viewpoints and those of others while learning the tools to apply their new cultural awareness in offering more culturally sensitive and supportive health care to their athletes and patients.