Cultural Differences in Healthcare Providers' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Treating Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a disease whose incidence rate is racially disproportionate, and its resurgence is attributed to many factors. The incidence of tuberculosis is high in southeastern states, specifically in Nashville/Davidson County in Tennessee. The changing demographic profile in the United States magnifies the need for health care providers with cross-cultural competence to be able to engage, communicate with, educate, and treat all patients effectively. A cross-sectional study design was used to explore if cultural experiences and exposure of health care providers were associated with their ability to recognize, diagnose, and manage tuberculosis, and to determine if heath care providers' attitudes toward tuberculosis policy were associated with recognition, diagnosis, and management of the disease. Peter's patient-physician model, Bell and Evans' interacting styles, and Purnell's model for cultural competency served as the theoretical framework. Logistic and simple linear regression and phi coefficient analyses were used. This study found that cultural awareness was significantly associated with the increased odds of recognizing the manifestations of tuberculosis. However, in terms of the ability to diagnose tuberculosis, none of the independent variables was found to be significant. For management of the disease, a cultural awareness score was borderline significant but was not associated with the odds of managing the disease. This study impacted social change by demonstrating that cultural awareness among health care providers can be an important factor for the recognition, diagnosis, and management of tuberculosis.