Handbook for Culturally Competent Care

The second edition of this incisive book, based on the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence, addresses the potentially challenging topic of culture in a forthright style. It is a valuable resource in today's team-based healthcare environment, preparing health professionals, regardless of setting, to conduct in-depth assessments of individuals and families from culturally specific population groups. This book will appeal to all healthcare workers in all fields, and it is particularly suitable for nurses interacting with patients in very diverse settings.

This book delves into 32 different cultures and areas of support common to all individuals and families that health professionals must recognize and consider. African American, American Indian, Brazilian, Cuban, Chinese, Korean and Filipino, but also Arab, Hindu or Haitian, as well as many European heritages are examined among others. Brand new chapters explore Greek, Italian, Jamaican, Thai, and Ukrainian heritages.

For each culture, chapters detail communication styles, family roles, workforce issues, biocultural ecology and high-risk health behaviours. Also discussed are nutrition, pregnancy and child bearing, death rituals, spirituality, healthcare practices, and the perceptions of traditional, magico-religious, and bio-medical healthcare providers.

Culture’s characteristics - such as age, generation, gender, religion, educational/marital/parental/socioeconomic or even military status, but also political beliefs, physical characteristics, sexual orientation or gender issues - determining the diversity of values, beliefs, and practices in an individual's cultural heritage in order to help prevent stereotyping are discussed.

At the end of each chapter, readers are provided with specific instructions, guidelines, tips, intervention strategies, and approaches specific to a particular cultural population. Additionally, reflective exercises help the reader reinforce the concepts presented in each chapter.

For this second edition, most of the chapters are authored by individuals who either identify with the culture being addressed in the chapter or have personal knowledge of the culture via life experiences.

Dr. Eric A. Fenkl, Associate Professor of Nursing, received his PhD in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.  Dr. Fenkl’s research interests include the cultural aspects of HIV/HPV prevention and related disease among LGBT populations with a particular emphasis on MSM and ethnically diverse populations. Dr. Fenkl has been the Co-PI on two large grants from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, SAMHSA. One to develop a program focusing on HIV/STD and substance abuse prevention for minority LGBT students on campus and a second one to implement a program for outreach in the greater Miami metropolitan area specifically for at-risk minority MSM. Dr. Fenkl has presented at numerous national and international conferences and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals globally. His teaching is focused on the facilitation of cultural competence in advanced practice nursing. Dr. Fenkl’s previous book publications include co-author of the first edition of the Handbook for Culturally Competent Care, and, co-editor of the Textbook for Transcultural HealthCare: a Population Approach.

Dr. Larry D. Purnell is Emeritus Professor from the University of Delaware where he coordinated the graduate programs in nursing and healthcare administration and taught culture. His Model, the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence, has been translated into Arabic, Czech, Flemish, Korean, French, German, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. 
Dr. Purnell has over 100 refereed journal publications, 100 book chapters, and 14 textbooks, including updated editions. He has made presentations throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, Denmark, Italy, Korea, Panama, Russia, Scotland, Spain, and Turkey. He is the U.S. Representative to the European Union’s Commission on Intercultural Communication resulting from the Salamanca, Sorbonne, Bologna, and WHO Declarations.  He has been on the International Editorial Board, for six journals. Dr. Purnell is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a Transcultural Nursing Scholar, Luther Christman Fellow, and is on the Rosa Parks Wall of Fame for Teaching Tolerance. His most recent Accomplishment is receiving a doctor of Humane Letters from Excelsior College in Albany, New York where he is also Emeritus Professor.