Cultural Attitudes toward Help Seeking and Beliefs about Illness in Families

[Page 264]Ethnic minority clients have been shown to experience disparities in health care as described in the Institute of Medicine's report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Many of these minority clients have structural barriers to obtaining the health care that they require, such as the inability to speak English; a lack of insurance, such as private insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare; and/or a lack of transportation, child care, or legal documentation. If all of these barriers were removed by providing adequate translation, as required by Executive Order 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency (LEP),” and enforced by the Office of Civil Rights, and these individuals were offered free health care, transportation, and child care, as well ...