Cultural competency in a physician assistant curriculum in the United States: a longitudinal study with two cohorts.
OBJECTIVE
Many physician assistant (PA) programs have recently integrated cultural competency into their curricula. However, there is little evidence of the longitudinal effectiveness of such curricula on culture competency. This study tested whether the amount of exposure to a cultural competency curriculum affected self-assessments of cultural awareness in two cohorts of students.


METHODS
Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 students completed a cultural awareness survey at the beginning of the program and retook the survey at three intervals during the first year.


RESULTS
Regression analyses confirmed a significant linear relationship (two-tailed 0.05) between the responses and the interval number on all questions for each cohort, with the exception of Question 8, on the ability to identify discrimination, for Cohort 2.


CONCLUSIONS
Results from Cohort 2 replicated those from Cohort 1, suggesting that cultural awareness among PA students benefits from repeated exposure to lessons on cultural competency. Schools attempting to develop or expand cultural awareness among students should consider integrating cultural competency training throughout the PA curriculum.
Department of Public Health, Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.
Barbra
B
Beck
Department of Psychology, Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.
Matthew H
MH
Scheel
Physician Assistant Program, Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.
Kathleen
K
De Oliveira
College of Natural Sciences, Health Sciences and Business, Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA.
Jane
J
Hopp