Page 248 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

226 Cultural Competence in Health Education and Health Promotion

We should not make assumptions about past, current, or future sexual behaviors.
The fact that a woman identifies as a lesbian does not mean that she has never had a

male sexual partner or never had children. We should include questions on violence as
part of the screening or intake process. LGBT people are not exempt from intimate
partner and other domestic violence. However, the circumstances surrounding the vio-
lence and the process of helping the victim can be different because of LGBT individ-
uals ’ fears of being “ outed ” to employers and/or family.
Health educators and other health professionals are encouraged to participate in
LGBT cultural competence training. The Sexuality Information and Education Council
of the United States (SIECUS) works with the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion ’ s Division of Adolescent and School Health to provide one - day training ( “ cultur-
ally competent HIV prevention and sexuality education ” ) for health educators. SIECUS
also offers free self - guided training modules to assist health educators in exploring cul-
ture and sexual health. (These modules are available on the SIECUS Web site at http://
www.siecus.org/school/trainingModules/index.html .)
All of us can best achieve competence in this area by acquiring and applying skills
in both simulated and actual settings. Training should be skill based and “ practiced ”
with actual LGBT people. Empathy training could be a part of the work, so that we all
come to better understand the stigmas and discrimination faced by LGBT people.
Finally, we can increase our knowledge of gay - affirming resources in our commu-

nities. Find and visit the resources that exist in your community.

CONCLUSION
The American Journal of Public Health devoted its June 2001 (Vol. 91, No. 6) issue to

LGBT health issues. The demand was so great that this issue sold out — the first time in
the journal ’ s history that an issue had sold out With this increase in knowledge, have
health educators and the health care profession responded with more culturally sensi-
tive care for LGBT people? The experiences of the majority of LGBT people and
scholarly evidence indicate that we are not yet offering our services in the most com-
petent or culturally sensitive way. LGBT people are in our families, communities, and
workplaces and are valuable and contributing members of our society. As health edu-
cators it is imperative that we be nonjudgmental and strive to develop culturally sensi-
tive skills to address the health issues of the LGBT community effectively and assist in
eliminating the health disparities experienced by this underserved culture. We are one
human family, and our charge as human beings is to help other human beings.

POINTS TO REMEMBER
■ Health educators and health professionals should acknowledge the LGBT com-
munity as a culture, one with health disparities similar to those associated with
race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender.

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