Cultural Impact of Health-Care Access: Challenges for Improving the Health of African Americans

Disparities in health status of African Americans continue to exist. These disparities of poor health, in part, are attributed to decreased access to health-care services. However, culture plays a key role in health-care utilization patterns among African Americans. The purpose of this article is to examine cultural factors that affect health-care practices among African Americans and to identify specific community health nursing interventions that integrate these factors into health-care plans for African-American families and communities.