Actual and self-perceived knowledge of health care providers regarding Southeast Asian health-related communication styles and cultural beliefs

The purpose of the study was to examine health care providers' self perceptions of their effectiveness when providing health care to Southeast Asian adults as related to their knowledge concerning Southeast Asians' communication styles and cultural beliefs about health. The population consisted of 30 professional health care providers employed at either the East Dallas Health Center or the Dallas Memorial Hospital Clinic located in Dallas, Texas. The questionnaire was administered in June 1992. The Pearson product-moment correlations were used to determine whether relationships existed between the knowledge of Southeast Asian communication styles and cultural beliefs and the providers' self-perceptions of effectiveness when providing health care to Southeast Asian adults. Overall results revealed no significant relationship between the objective and subjective measures of the knowledge of health care providers regarding Southeast Asian communication styles; no significant relationship between objective and subjective measures of the knowledge of health care providers regarding Southeast Asian cultural beliefs about health, and that health care providers' self-perceived effectiveness when providing health care to Southeast Asian adults is not related significantly to their knowledge concerning either Southeast Asian communication styles or cultural beliefs about health.