Applying the concept of culture to reduce health disparities through health behavior research

• Published in: Preventive medicine Vol. 55; no. 5; pp. 356 - 361
• Main Author: Kagawa Singer, Marjorie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.11.2012
• Subjects: Burden; Cultural Diversity; Culture; Definitions; Ethnology; Health Behavior - ethnology; Health behaviour; Health disparities; Health inequalities; Health status; Health Status Disparities; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medical research; Methodology; Operationalizing culture; Personality; United States; United States; Operationalizing culture; Methodology; Culture; Definitions; Health disparities
• ISSN: 0091-7435; 1096-0260
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2012.02.011

Abstract Culture is often cited as an underlying cause of the undue burden of disease borne by communities of color along the entire life cycle. However, culture is rarely defined or appropriately measured. Scientifically, culture is a complex, integrated, and dynamic conceptual framework that is incongruent with the way it is operationalized in health behavior theories: as a unidimensional, static, and immutable character element of a homogeneous population group. This paper lays out this contradiction and proposes a more scientifically grounded approach to the use of culture. The premise is that if the concept of culture were better operationalized, results from studies of diverse population groups would produce findings that are more scientifically valid and relevant to the community. Practitioners could then use these findings to develop more effective strategies to reduce health disparities and improve the health of all population groups. Six steps are proposed to increase our ability to achieve greater clarity on what culture is and to identify how it impacts health behavior and ultimately health outcomes, enabling researchers to build a stronger science of cultural diversity.