For Elderly Muslims, Few Options Outside the Home - NYTimes.com

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By KAREN STABINER

Nazli Currim lived for 14 years at the intersection of tradition and frustration. After her father died, her mother moved into Ms. Currim’s home. She cared for her mother full time, even after a stroke six years before she died.

Ms. Currim, 69, founder of the American Muslim Women’s Association, never considered finding a nursing home for her mother. Her attitude is common among Muslims in the United States, many of whom are reluctant even to consider placing an aging family member in a facility.

Part of that decision was a personal one, but part of it was practical: It is difficult for Muslims to find nursing homes and assisted living facilities that reflect their way of life.

Cultural competence has become a buzzword as adult children seek elder care solutions that acknowledge an older person’s cultural and religious identity. But the Muslim community faces a particular challenge. The elderly segment of that population is quite small, representing “only 0.5 percent of our American Muslim population,” according to Aneesah Nadir, president of the Islamic Social Services Association U.S.A., based in Phoenix. “Most of the elders of those who have immigrated here are still overseas. We’re a youthful population.”

Older parents who do come to the United States often live an insulated existence. “They don’t speak the language, so people can’t communicate with them,” said Ms. Nadir. For them, life in a majority of residential facilities would be an alien experience.
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CLAS Standard Public Comment

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health is seeking public input from individuals and professional communities across the country for the CLAS (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services) Standards Enhancement Initiative.  This initiative is an effort to make enhancements to the National Standards for CLAS in Health Care, first released in 2000.  The goal of the enhancement process is to maximize access in gathering public input and stakeholder dialogue to ensure that the CLAS Standards serve the health needs of everyone. 

To submit your comments electronically or attend a public comment session, go to: https://clasenhancements.thinkculturalhealth.org/. 

To access a copy of the CLAS Standards, go to: http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=15

For more information, please contact Leslie Swann at Leslie.Swann@aoa.hhs.gov or 202-357-3453.   

Diversity Toolkit

The U.S. Administration on Aging just released an online “Toolkit for Serving Diverse Communities.”

This Toolkit provides the Aging Network and its partners with a replicable and easy-to-use method for providing services for any diverse community.

The Toolkit consists of a four-step process and a questionnaire that assists professionals, volunteers and grassroots advocates with every stage of program planning, implementation and service delivery for older adult communities, their families and caregivers.

The core principles of the toolkit include respect, inclusion and sensitivity as the hallmarks of quality service.
This Toolkit is an invitation to agencies and their partners to make a cultural shift in service provision, to learn, to grow and fully appreciate the diverse community of older adults they serve.

The Toolkit can be found at:
http://www.aoa.gov/AoAroot/Press_Room/For_The_Press/pr/archive/2010/June/DiversityToolkit.aspx

Diversity Toolkit

Greying Gays: Not So Silent Anymore - EDGE New England

by Scott Stiffler

Very few of us spend much time contemplating our own death. Even fewer of us devote much thought to the notion that just before the final curtain comes life’s third and final act: old age. Denial buys us a little more time to have another drink and cruise a little twink. The good news? Some of those twinks are ditching their daddy fetish in favor of hooking up with grandpa. More on that later.

But old age is coming, so get ready for it; because barring any unforeseen disaster, we’re all headed there - and charismatic lesbian financial guru Suze Orman seems to be the only one warning that you better have a plan before senior citizenship knocks on your door and bites you in the ass!

Perhaps that’s why as we age, society finds enormous comfort in rendering its aged population increasingly invisible. They’re disregarded as out of touch, senile or irrelevant - so as to put our own inevitable march towards the land of wrinkles, Social Security on the far back burner.

Now add to that mix LGBT identity - which comes with its own cultural consequence of invisibility. What’s worse, LGBTs seem to confront the typical problems of heterosexual aging at an earlier age.
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• SAGE awarded $900,000 by DHHS (bilerico.com)

Language and Cultural Barriers Hurting Patient Care, Say Physicians

by Joe Cantlupe

Nearly half of U.S. physicians say language or other cultural barriers are obstacles to providing high-quality patient care, according to a study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

Forty-eight percent of all physicians in 2008 reported difficulties communicating with patients because of language or cultural barriers, and said they considered the situation at least a minor problem affecting their ability to provide high-quality care.

Less than 5%, however, viewed those barriers as a major problem that could result in a disparity of care across ethnic and racial populations, the study reported. Efforts to overcome the obstacles were considered modest or uneven.

The study, HSC Issue Brief–Modest and Uneven: Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities shows there is a great need to address the problem of language and cultural communication as the U.S. becomes more diversified, says James D. Reschovsky, PhD, senior health researcher for the Center for Studying Health System Change and co-author of the study. The study, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes responses from more than 4,700 physicians and the response rate was 62%.

The issue takes on more urgency in the U.S. because an ever-increasing number of people speak a language other than English at home, according to Reschovsky.
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Special Needs of Older Minorities

No provider of long-term services and supports can ignore the growing diversity of the aging population. For example, one in every five people aged 50 to 69 in the United States will be of Hispanic origin in 2030 [1] and the number of elderly immigrants will quadruple by 2050. [2] The number of Hispanic nursing home residents has been rising steadily since 2000 because older Hispanics have fewer family members available to care for them at home. [3]

As these trends continue, providers of long-term services and supports will feel pressure to tailor their services to an increasingly diverse clientele. This will mean serving native foods and hiring staff who speak native tongues. But it will also mean helping minority elderly meet the often pressing economic and health care needs that follow them into old age.

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Health Policy Research Roundup: Long-Term Care, Diabetes Disparities, Health IT

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Annals of Internal Medicine: Cultural Competency Training and Performance Reports to Improve Diabetes Care for Black Patients - In this study, researchers measure the effects cultural competency training and performance training for physicians has on the clinical outcomes for black patients with diabetes. By comparing the patient outcomes among blacks whose physicians received training to those who had not, the authors conclude that though "cultural competency training combined with individual clinician-level performance feedback on racial disparities … increased awareness of disparities," such changes were "not accompanied by improvement in diabetes outcomes for black patients. ... Future studies should focus on methods to build on this increased clinician awareness, possibly through programs that engage patients and the community in more effective management of diabetes and incorporate the skills of other allied health professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, and nutritionists," they conclude (Sequist et al., 1/5).

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The Caregiving Experience in a Racially Diverse Sample of Cancer Family Caregivers

The literature supports a variety of predictor variables to account for the psychological and stress burden experienced by cancer family caregivers. Missing among the predictor variables are the differences by or influence of race/ethnicity. The purpose of this study was to describe the sample, explore differences in outcomes by patient and family caregiver characteristics, and determine if any of the patient and family characteristics, including race/ethnicity, predicted outcomes. Cross-sectional surveys were used to determine sociodemographics, psychological and physical health, and burdens of caregiving among 54 caregivers. The analysis consisted of descriptive methods, including frequencies and t tests, and regression modeling. The sample was 35% African American or Hispanic. African American and Hispanic caregivers were younger than white caregivers and more often women, were rarely the spouse of the patient, and frequently had other dependents, including children and older parents. African American and Hispanic caregivers reported lower incomes and more burden related to finances and employment than did white caregivers. When controlling for sociodemographic factors, there was no difference by race/ethnicity on the outcome measures. The experience of caregiving may supersede race/ethnicity and may be its own cultural entity. Areas of concern include the interrelationship between socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity, the absence of cultural frameworks to direct caregiver research, and the question of cultural relevance of measurement tools. Mary Lou Siefert, DNSc, AOCN; Anna-leila Williams, PhD(c), MPH, PA-C; Michael F. Dowd, PhD; Lolita Chappel-Aiken, EdD, RN; Ruth McCorkle, PhD, FAAN Cancer Nurs. 2008;31(5):399-407. ©2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The New Old Age: Elders on Elderspeak

By By Jane Gross Published: October 13, 2008, New York Times What does it mean that we cannot agree on how to address the aging?

The New Old Age: New Census Data: Aging America

By By Sam Roberts Published: October 2, 2008, New York Times As the U.S. population ages, it's working-age citizens will be increasingly diverse, according to new projections.

NCD Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

NCD gives notice that its Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee (CDAC) will hold a meeting by conference call on the date and time noted below. Date and Time: Thursday, August 21, 2008, 2:30 p.m. EDT. Place: NCD, 1331 F Street, NW., Suite 850, Washington, DC 20004. Status: All parts of this conference call will be open to the public. People interested in participating on this call should contact the appropriate staff member listed below. Due to limited resources, only a few telephone lines will be available.

NM among states legislating culturally competent health care

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 08/06/2008 05:06:33 PM MDT As the country's ethnic profile diversifies, some states are trying to assure that health care providers be trained in "cultural competency." New Mexico passed a law last year requiring that higher education institutions with health education programs provide such training, though the state still is grappling with how it will be implemented.

Centers offer ways to bridge language, cultural differences

Community health centers find that hiring bilingual staff and installing telephone translation lines are key to providing the best care. By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. July 7, 2008