This project was a collaboration between Northern Nevada Public Health, Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, and the Larson Institute for Health Impact and Equity. Funding for this project was provided through the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health by Grant Number 1 NH75OT000092-01-00 from the CDC.
Study Period: December 2022 -
January 2024
Enhancing Cultural Responsiveness of Nevada’s Public Health Workforce
Training in cultural competency is essential for healthcare and public health practitioners to deliver effective, equitable, and culturally-sensitive services. Healthcare providers benefit from understanding diverse cultural backgrounds to establish trust, improve communication, and deliver services aligned with patients’ beliefs and values, enhancing patient satisfaction and health outcomes. Similarly, public health practitioners require cultural competency to design interventions responsive to diverse community needs, reducing health disparities and promoting equity. Nevada Revised Statute (NRS) 449.103 mandates annual cultural competency training for healthcare facility employees in Nevada. While the Larson Institute for Health Impact and Equity (LIHIE) has provided this training to providers since 2020, there has been an emerging need to develop a similar training with a public health-focused audience, particularly those working at state and local health departments, to address the important role that cultural competency has in addressing population-level health disparities and promoting health equity.
The Solution
To bridge this gap, LIHIE led a collaborative effort between Northern Nevada Public Health, Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, and statewide interdisciplinary partners to develop a 6-module, asynchronous cultural competency training that would serve the public health workforce and ensure a strong evidence base for public health practice. Partners from organizations including Northern Nevada Public Health, Southern Nevada Health District, Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, University of Nevada, Reno, and NAACP were invited to participate in a series of vignettes (“Perspectives in Practice”) that were incorporated into the training to illustrate the application of training principles across various areas of public health. Additionally, in an effort to promote engagement and learner retention, interactive elements were incorporated, including a desktop course handbook, various reflection checkpoints, and collaborative team activities.
Aligned with Core Competencies identified by the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice, the training takes an innovative approach to cultural humility that is strongly rooted in foundations of health equity and social determinants of health to explore the critical role in the public health workforce’s efforts to eliminate health disparities. Key domains addressed include health equity skills, public health sciences skills, communication skills, and leadership and systems thinking skills.
The Results
To support Northern Nevada Public Health’s (NNPH) accreditation status, the Cultural Competency in Public Health training is currently being used as a mandatory onboarding training for all new staff. It has also been marketed to various local health departments and organizations around the state of Nevada. The training modules are currently hosted on the Larson Institute’s learning management system through January 2027, when content will be reviewed and updated according to feedback and communicated need.
