Grant: Knowledge Synthesis Grant - PA: Improve Health and Health Equity

Historically, racial and ethnic bias has led to lower socioeconomic status and higher risk of ill health. Policy makers have addressed this problem by targeting the factors that lead to poverty and great income inequalities. In addition, health and associated service providers are attempting to improve their own cultural and linguistic competence, thereby improving patient and client health outcomes. Yet, little is known about the effectiveness of these interventions. This project will review and synthesize research that evaluates the effectiveness of individual, organizational, and policy interventions to improve cultural competence and resulting health outcomes. The product will identify core components of these interventions that are applicable across settings and report on the effectiveness of each, wherever this information is available. In addition to a research report, this project will produce guidelines for policy makers and managers in health, child welfare, mental health, law, and education settings indicating which interventions have the greatest effectiveness, the interventions that may have adverse outcomes, and the interventions for which actual outcomes are relatively unknown.