Improving Cultural Congruency Across the Mental Healthcare Delivery Network-Session 1 - Understanding Cultural Competency Moving Toward a Culturally-Humble Approach in Mental Healthcare Delivery

Session 1 - Understanding Cultural Competency Moving Toward a Culturally-Humble Approach in Mental Healthcare Delivery

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Video Summary

In a comprehensive discussion on addressing cultural disparities in psychiatry, Dr. Neil Krishan Agarwal and Dr. Pooja Chadha highlighted the critical need for cultural sensitivity in mental health care. Dr. Agarwal, an esteemed psychiatrist, introduced the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), a tool developed with international collaboration to help providers address cultural aspects in patient care. He emphasized the shrinking spaces for such cultural conversations and the need for a systematic approach to assess sociocultural factors affecting patients’ health perceptions and treatment choices. The CFI aims to assist clinicians in understanding patients within their diverse cultural contexts, promoting person-centered and equitable healthcare. Dr. Chadha shared about the Advancing Inclusivity and Diversity (AID) program, a successful initiative in training healthcare providers to navigate cultural humility and biases. This training, now recognized nationally, equips clinicians with the skills to engage in difficult conversations, improve patient-provider relations, and create inclusive healthcare environments. Both panelists stressed that these efforts should be lifelong learning processes embedded within healthcare training and practice. They argued for a model of care that aligns patient experiences with clinical diagnostics, emphasizing that culturally informed care not only fosters patient trust but also enhances treatment compliance and outcomes. The discussion concluded with an interactive Q&A session, focusing on practical implementation challenges and the integration of cultural assessments in routine clinical practice, underscoring the importance of bridging the cultural gap in healthcare to mitigate disparities.

Keywords

cultural disparities

psychiatry

cultural sensitivity

mental health care

Cultural Formulation Interview

sociocultural factors

person-centered healthcare

equitable healthcare

Advancing Inclusivity and Diversity

cultural humility

inclusive healthcare

patient trust

treatment compliance