Negotiating Cultural Diversity

During the past 40 years, most health care services throughout the western world have realized that best practices require that nurses and other health professionals include culturally appropriate health services for diverse populations. The changes in sociocultural demography, morbidity and mortality patterns both at national and international levels, the rise in health care costs and the provision related to multiculturalism in Canada s Constitution Act of 1982 have contributed to institutional accommodation to cultural diversity in Canada. This book presents an ethnographic portrait of how the concept cultural diversity has entered in the everyday discourse and practice of a Community Health Center (CHC) providing primary care service in western Canada. Acharya examines the strategies adopted by CHC staff to accommodate diverse clients and its consequences, and makes suggestions for policymakers how to facilitate more extensive involvement of the CHC in a meaningful cross-cultural service delivery.