Cultural Bias Among Healthcare Treatment Providers

Abstract

Often healthcare treatment professionals neglect to acknowledge the effect of inequality among BIPOC communities. This study uncovers features of social bias among healthcare providers through practices, education, and behavior change. Healthcare providers' harmful characterizations and biases influence opinions and policies that lead to health disparities. In this qualitative exploratory study, a purposive sample is drawn to provide information about healthcare providers' perceptions (Reeves et al., 2013). The identified themes: Cultural Diversity, Ensuring Appropriate and High Quality Services for BIPOC clients, Services and Resources available for BIPOC clients and Stimulants of Cultural Humility and Cultural Literacy; show that there is little training on cultural humility and competence in addition to the complexity of implicit bias and its impact on provider-patient interactions. These elements allowed the study to examine barriers to mental health in BIPOC communities, motivating researchers to expand future studies of cultural bias among treatment providers to promote ongoing change.