An Expanded Look at Some Cultural Groups

This section provides health care professionals with expanded information for nine different cultural groups. For each group, we provide information about its Strengths and Protective Factors, Challenges to Health and Well-Being, and Principles for Culturally Competent Health Services. In each section you will also find References and Links for each group.

Despite the fact that this information is relevant regarding many members of each cultural group, it is vital for providers to keep in mind that every patient is an individual. This information is intended to be descriptive in nature and may not apply to an individual patient. Stereotyping a patient can lead to misconceptions about the individual seeking your care. We caution you to keep this important caveat in mind.

Please note that the categories of these nine groups are somewhat arbitrary. In many cases, they do not accurately reflect the rich variety of cultures within these groups. We appreciate your understanding and tolerance for our need to use categories to organize the large amount of information. If you feel that we have misrepresented a group in any way, please let us know. We will take your comments and suggestions into consideration as we improve and periodically update this website.

The cultural groups discussed in the following section include:

• African Americans
• Arab Americans
• Asian Americans
• Central Asians
• Hispanics/Latinos
• Muslims
• Native Americans
• Pacific Islanders
• South Asians