This site provides some short video clips of interviews of both patients and health care providers. In the patient area, the increasing awareness of patients’ cultural background can improve communication. Since diet is influenced by culture, understanding the patients' viewpoint is essential. From the health care givers' perspective, the site states, "Cross-cultural Care and Cultural Competence Cultural competence is the understanding of diverse attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, practices, and communication patterns attributable to a variety of factors (such as race, ethnicity, religion, SES, historical and social context, physical or mental ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, or generational and acculturation status). A health care provider is cultural competent when he/she is able to deliver culturally appropriate and specifically tailored care to patients with diverse values, beliefs, and behaviors. Providing culturally competent care is an advocated strategy for reducing heath disparities."
