Introduction

The growing racial and ethnic diversity within the United States as well as shifts in cultural processes in the realm of globalization have led to increasing attention to the concept of culture in health care. Attending to this broader call for incorporating culture in health care, health communication scholars have articulated the importance of addressing culture in the study and application of communication processes and messages in health settings (Airhihenbuwa, 1995; Dutta-Bergman, 2004a, 2004b). The relevance of addressing cultural issues through health communication programming has become particularly important within the United States as empirical evidence on racial distribution of health resources and outcomes has documented widening gaps between the haves and have-nots, with the health disparities often falling along racial lines such that African Americans and Hispanics experience poorer health outcomes compared to Caucasians (Dutta et al., in press). In the face of these widening disparities, health communication scholars have pointed out that perhaps understanding and addressing the cultures of underserved communities would provide an entry point for improving the health outcomes of these communities.