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Stereotyping or Liberating: Data on Ethnicity and Culture

jules-rothstein@comcast.net

On one hand, we know that cultural and ethnic stereotyping can lead to caricatures and to some of the vilest behavior in which human beings can engage. Instead of leading us to deal with people, stereotyping can lead us to deal with imagined versions of people, in a form of bigotry that has no place among health care workers.

On the other hand, we know that there are trends and variables that play a role in how people respond to interventions and that many of these variables are culturally and ethnically dependent. We also know that members of different ethnic and racial groups might need special consideration for problems that are unique to those groups, such as the keloid formation that occurs among African Americans. The conundrum, therefore, is how to effectively use information about people for their own benefit and in a manner that respects patients as unique individuals.

Without data, we cannot know what health care views arise from biases or other questionable sources. With data, we can begin to understand likely trends among people from various ethnic and racial groups and how these trends might affect responses to disease and interventions. I emphasize the term "likely" because—as with any data collected during research—clinical expertise is required to determine when and if the data can be applied to any given person. We are doubly lucky this month to see research that addresses how members of two ethnic groups respond to pathology and disability.

Kirk-Sanchez examines activity limitations in Cuban Americans over the age of 50 years following hip fractures. In the abstract, she puts the issue into perspective by stating, "Cuban Americans over the age of 50 years, like people from a number of other cultures, have been exposed to distinctive social and psychological aspects of their culture that may affect their recovery from a major health event." This statement reminds us of our need to know more about how people respond to impairments, disabilities, and interventions and whether ethnicity is likely to be a meaningful variable.

In another article that addresses differences among ethnic groups, Kolobe focuses on early intervention programs and notes that the effect of parent education has not been thought to be consistent across a variety of groups. Most particularly, the effect of parent education seems to differ between some majority and minority populations. This difference may be important, because Kolobe reports that there appears to be "a link between aspects of the mothers' childrearing behaviors and their infants' cognitive developmental status," whereas other variables appear to be associated with motor development status.

Both of these papers illustrate how physical therapists can be better prepared to deliver services when they understand the nuances of some ethnic groups and how members of these groups may manifest characteristic behaviors. This is not meant to suggest that health care practitioners can assume that all members of the ethnic groups studied will respond in the manner detailed in this research. Again, it is meant to suggest only that such a response is likely in members of these ethnic groups.

To a large extent, data application that allows us to be sensitive to the needs of ethnic and racial groups also allows us to be free from bigotry and enslavement by stereotypes. In the wrong hands, however, data can be used mindlessly to characterize people without regard to the reality of the individual. If people misuse data of the type reported by Kirk-Sanchez and Kolobe, shame on them; but the possibility of misuse must not stop us from vigorously pursuing information that we can use to better assist our patients and to better understand our patients as people. The Journal is excited to see this kind of research and hopes to see much more of it in the near future.

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Factors Related to Activity Limitations in a Group of Cuban Americans Before and After Hip Fracture

Neva J Kirk-Sanchez
Physical Therapy 2004 84: 408-418. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rothstein, J. M Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Rothstein, J. M Related Collections Cross-Cultural All Editorials Jules Rothstein Related Articles Social Bookmarking                      What's this?