The Cultural competence in Health: A review of the evidence book was launched in Alice Springs in May, 2018. This resource reviews the available international evidence on cultural competence in health care settings in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A. It provides readers with a clear and systematic overview of the evidence about interventions and indicators applied to enable systems agencies, or professionals to work effectively in various cross-cultural health care situations. Cultural competency is critical to reducing health disparities experienced by Indigenous and other ethnic minority populations and has become a popular concept in these countries for improving access to high-quality, respectful and responsive health care. Policymakers, health practitioners, researchers and students are in need of a summary of what works in applying the evidence to improve systems, services and health practice. The book's objectives are to:

  1. Consider the significance of cultural competence and how it has been defined, including the use of similar terms;
  2. Identify approaches and strategies that are effective in improving cultural competency;
  3. Report on how cultural competence has been measured;
  4. Examine the relationship between cultural competency and health outcomes;
  5. Summarise the quality of available evidence; and
  6. Present an evidence–informed conceptual framework of cultural competency.

Cultural Competence in Health: A review of the evidence can be purchased online from Springer.

A series of review papers have also been published, including:

Crystal Jongen, Janya McCalman, Roxanne Bainbridge (in press). Health workforce cultural competency interventions: A systematic scoping review. BMC Health Services Research.

Crystal Jongen, Janya McCalman, Roxanne Bainbridge (2017). The Implementation and Evaluation of Health Promotion Services and Programs to Improve Cultural Competency: A Systematic Scoping Review. Frontiers in Public Health. 2017; 5: 24.

McCalman, J., Jongen, C. & Bainbridge, R. (2017). Organisational systems' approaches to improving cultural competence in healthcare: a systematic scoping review of the literature. International Journal for Health Equity, 16:78.

Anton Clifford, Janya McCalman, Crystal Jongen, Roxanne Bainbridge (2017). Cultural Competency Training and Education in the University-based Professional Training of Health Professionals: Characteristics, Quality and Outcomes of Evaluations. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care (2017) 14(3): 136-147.

Bainbridge, R., McCalman, J., Clifford, A., Tsey, K. (2015). Cultural competency in the delivery of health services for Indigenous people. Closing the Gap Clearinghouse. Issues paper no. 13. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Clifford, A., McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R., Tsey, K. (2015). Interventions to improve cultural competency in health care for Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA: a systematic review. International Journal of Quality in Healthcare. doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzv010.

McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R., Clifford, A., & Tsey, K. (2013). A systematic literature search of cultural competence indicators and interventions targeting Indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada: Sax Institute, NSW Ministry of Health.