The face of America and its health care needs are changing rapidly. Our population is aging at an
unprecedented rate and has been referred to as the ‘graying of America.’ There is great concern that this will
overwhelm the healthcare system, both in terms of service demands and financial burden. Many of the people
in the population have at least one, and as many as five, chronic conditions.
In addition to the ‘graying of America’, new patterns in immigration are changing the make-up of our
communities. The US Census Bureau (2011) reports that immigration is increasing from African, Asian, and
Caribbean countries while declining from European and Central American sources. This creates new cohorts of
clients whose differing health beliefs can affect the success of intervention programs targeted at managing
chronic disease.
objectives1.JPG MODULE OBJECTIVES
Research the extent of a selected chronic disease in a chosen population within a given area and evidencebased interventions currently used to improve client self-management.
Relate cultural diversity and needs to their health care components to foster skills needed to ensure cultural
competence in relation to self-management of chronic disease