ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of health care providers in reaching and working with multicultural populations rests heavily upon the sensitivity, respect and understanding paid to ethnic diversity. The barriers to providing appropriate services to ethnic populations are a lack of appropriate informational materials concerning resources, rights, and responsibilities for multiethnic groups, compounded by a shortage of trained bilingual, multiculturally educated personnel among health care provider organizations. The subsequent lack of culturally responsive service affects client behavior, access and outcome, (p. 4)
Because cultural forces affect so many of our daily routines (e.g., what and when we eat, how we dress) and extraordinary life events (celebrations, holidays, etc.) we sometimes become blind to the effect of our own cultural perspectives on others. The power of culture is a force acted out in almost all human interactions. This powerful force, as with any element in
