Page 13 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

FOREWORD

Cultural competency has been one of the essential skill sets for effective health educa-
tion and promotion in locations where diverse populations exist. The dramatic demo-
graphic change that has taken place in the United States during the past two decades,
however, means that undreamed of diversity now exists in small cities and towns
across the country due to workforce recruitment from other countries, refugee resettle-
ment, and a variety of other factors. It is now essential that all current and future health
education specialists have knowledge and skills in cultural competency.
For more than fifteen years the American Association for Health Education

(AAHE) has been working actively to advance cultural competency among health
education and promotion professionals, and during the mid - 1990s AAHE promulgated
training in cultural competency through a series of AAHE - developed workshops
funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and conducted across the
nation . Two written texts emerged from that work, and the authors of this book have
reinforced a number of the guidelines and principles for cultural competency estab-
lished at that time. However, the authors of this book have also greatly expanded upon
that very early work. Cultural Competence in Health Education and Health Promo-
tion fulfills current and future needs in cultural competency for both professional prep-

aration and implementation by practitioners.
The authors of this book present a thorough exploration of up - to - date research
about the impact of culture on health disparities, communication, wellness, belief sys-
tems, educational strategies, and a plethora of other factors essential to having a com-
plete understanding of cultural competency. As Swartz and Tisdell point out in Chapter
Five , delivering health education and promotion programs appropriately within a cul-
tural framework requires taking into account the importance of not only health behav-
iors but also attitudes toward health and healing and the impact of leadership, religion,
and spiritual beliefs within the culture.
The officers and staff of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE)

wish to extend sincere appreciation to Dr. Miguel A. Pérez and Dr. Raffy R. Luquis for
their excellent vision in conceptualizing and developing the content focus and organi-
zation of this important new resource for health education and promotion profession-
als. Their leadership and expertise coalesced to fill a need for the profession as well as

for our organization.
We also wish to extend our sincere gratitude to all of the authors who contributed
their expertise to Cultural Competence in Health Education and Health Promotion :
Matthew Adeyanju, Carolina Aguilera, Kate Brindle, William H. Dailey Jr., Eva I.
Doyle, Emogene Johnson Vaughn, Suzanne Kotkin - Jaszi, Nayamin Martinez - Cossio,
Helda Pinzon - Pérez, Ann L. Swartz, Elizabeth J. Tisdell, and Kay Woodiel.

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