Does cultural competence training for health professionals impact culturally and linguistically diverse patient outcomes? A systematic review of the literature

Objective: To assess the impact of cultural competence training for health professionals on patient outcomes. Method: A systematic review of cultural competence training interventions for healthcare workers including papers published January 2010 to January 2021, identified through MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC and APA Psy-chINFO. Health conditions were not specified, however, only studies reporting patient outcomes were included. Training frameworks and delivery, measures of health professional cultural competence, and patient outcomes were reviewed.Results: Of 7879 unique studies identified, five met inclusion criteria including two randomised control trials, two mixed method and one multi-method pre/post study. Professionals reported the training was beneficial, and some improvements in patient perceptions of health providers' cultural competence were found. However, pa-tient health outcomes did not improve significantly in any study.Conclusion: Cultural competence training is promoted to improve outcomes of patients from culturally diverse backgrounds; however, few studies assess outcomes when examining training impact. Inconsistencies in theo-retical frameworks and training makes it difficult to assess the efficacy of training on patient outcomes. Results: Of 7879 unique studies identified, five met inclusion criteria including two randomised control trials, two mixed method and one multi-method pre/post study. Professionals reported the training was beneficial, and some improvements in patient perceptions of health providers' cultural competence were found. However, pa-tient health outcomes did not improve significantly in any study.Conclusion: Cultural competence training is promoted to improve outcomes of patients from culturally diverse backgrounds; however, few studies assess outcomes when examining training impact. Inconsistencies in theo-retical frameworks and training makes it difficult to assess the efficacy of training on patient outcomes.Practice implications: To ascertain the benefits of health professional cultural competence training on patient outcomes, research needs to address the issues of definition, theoretical frameworks and implementation ap-proaches to training.

Automated summary

A study assessing the impact of cultural competence training on health professionals found that professionals reported the training to be beneficial, and there were some improvements in patient perceptions of health providers' cultural competence. However, patient health outcomes did not significantly improve in any of the studies.