Teaching about Cultural Competence and Health Disparities in an Online Graduate Public Health Course.

The growing diversity in U.S. society encourages the need for culturally competent healthcare professionals to provide optimal services to a diverse population. This increasing diversity also brings greater awareness to health disparities among distinct subgroups of the U.S. population. Addressing health disparities in the USA will require a multidimensional approach from various sectors, including the field of education. Developing health disparities curricula can help cultivate conscious future health practitioners. Faculty development programs can be integral in equipping faculty to develop curricula on and teach students about health disparities. With a growth in online learning and in the number of adult learners within the health professions field, it is important to design online curricula to prepare students to engage with diverse populations with varied healthcare needs. The purpose of this paper is to describe faculty efforts to teach and evaluate health disparities-related education in an online graduate course on cultural competence in Public Health practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]