Enhancing Culturally Competent Care for Obesity Among African Immigrants

Purpose: This DNP project examines the effectiveness of a brief educational presentation to improve cultural competency care for obesity among African Immigrants. This project focused on providers at southwestern urban primary care clinic to become culturally competent in caring for African immigrants with obesity. The findings and recommendations of this project also serve as resource for other providers locally and nation-wide who provide care for African immigrant population. Method: Utilizing a purposeful sampling method, quantitative pre-test and post-test questionnaires were used to evaluate cultural knowledge and intended clinical practices of participants (N =5), feasibility and satisfaction of the educational activity. Aggregate data collected from the pre-and post-test questionnaires were analyzed and discussed through thematic and descriptive analysis. Results: All participants demonstrated significant enhancement in cultural competency in knowledge in regard to nutrition, physical activity and linguistics/communication, body image perception and obesity management in African cultural context. Also, one hundred percent (n=5) of the participants recorded very high level of satisfaction of the intervention content and delivery. Conclusion: The education intervention was successful in enhancing providers’ cultural knowledge and competence in caring for African immigrants with obesity. It also serves as valuable initiative to further develop culturally competent care based on evidence-based practice to enhance the quality of care delivery for African immigrants as well as other vulnerable minority populations. For the over two million African Immigrants in the United States, obesity and its related complications is a constant struggle for this minority population. Health disparities exist for all minority groups suffering from poverty in the US, and the immigrant population is at a higher risk for these disparities due to the slower rate of acculturation. The effort to address obesity among immigrants especially those of African descent is significantly influenced by providers’ cultural knowledge, sensitivity and competency in healthcare delivery. This project outlines the development, implementation and evaluation of a brief PowerPoint presentation aiming to educate healthcare providers on cultural competency and appropriateness in caring for African Immigrants with obesity