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Strategies, Practices, and Models for Delivering Programs 189

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND HEALTH EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
The topic of cultural diversity and health education in professional programs is cov-
ered in greater detail in Chapter Nine . This chapter provides a brief summary of this
information.
Bruess, Hendricks, Poehler, and Redford (1987) describe the integration of the
Role Delineation Project framework into the undergraduate health education program
at the University of Alabama and the resulting modifications to the curricula. Unfortu-

nately, no similar curricular modifications seem to have been made following the release
of the 1994 AAHE guidelines.
Beatty and Doyle (2000) found that professional health education program curri-
cula did not adequately prepare health educators to work with diverse populations. In a
study six years later, Luquis, P é rez, and Young (2006) found that despite a documented
need for cultural training in professional health education preparation programs, most
programs do not offer courses entirely devoted to cultural competence. This lack of
focus on cultural competence has also been found in public health departments, denot-
ing the need for further work in integrating cultural competence into health education
coursework (P é rez, Gonzalez, & Pinzon - P é rez, 2006).

Although the health education field has been slow in integrating cultural diversity
training into its professional preparation programs, and in some cases into the develop-
ment and evaluation of programs, other professional areas have made great strides in this
area. The federal government has been an unquestioned leader in this area. For example,
the 1985 Report of the Secretary ’ s Task Force on Black and Minority Health (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 1985) represents one of the earliest efforts to
document health disparities. Although this document has been criticized for not present-
ing a comprehensive picture of minority health status in the United States, it represents a
seminal effort to increase awareness about the health issues facing U.S. minorities.
On January 25, 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released
Healthy People 2010, a document designed to provide a road map for improving the
health status of all Americans. The Healthy People 2010 initiative has two primary
goals: increasing the quality of and extending the number of years of healthy life for
individuals and eliminating health disparities among Americans. To measure the
achievement of those goals, the Healthy People 2010 initiative proposed to use a series
of leading health indicators that include physical activity, overweight and obesity,
tobacco use, substance abuse, responsible sexual behavior, mental health, injury and
violence, environmental quality, immunization, and access to health care. The integra-
tion of diversity is evident through the entire document.

CLAS STANDARDS

In 2001, the Office of Minority Health released the National Standards on Culturally
and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). The fourteen standards, organized by
themes, address culturally competent care (Standards 1 to 3), language access services

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