Second National Conference on
Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations:
Strategy and Action for Communities, Providers, and a Changing Health System

Making the Case for Employing Anthropologists to Improve Culturally Competent Healthcare

This exhibit presents the case that anthropologists are particularly well suited for positions in cultural competence, and that businesses will significantly benefit by employing them for such work. Informal surveys of a number of health care companies and agencies suggests that there is a strong tendency to recognize only Public Health degrees for positions that involve cultural competency issues. This research will demonstrate that this hiring tendency can be self-limiting, and may accidentally exclude highly qualified candidates from consideration.

We propose that adding degrees in the field of Anthropology to the list of position-fulfilling requirements may produce excellent matches of qualifications to positions that involve cultural competency issues. After all, anthropologists are specifically trained to deal with issues of human culture and linguistics, and have special knowledge that is useful in positions where extensive awareness of many different belief systems is necessary.

To support this view, we begin with an analysis of job requirements and descriptions as currently represented by both job postings and job descriptions in the health care industry. The overall curriculum and methodological training in a number of Public Health and Anthropology graduate programs are then examined and summarized. Finally, the overall content of the two types of graduate programs is compared to the job requirements to see where they match and where discrepancies occur.

We show that applied anthropology needs to be reconsidered as a source of personnel whose training can bring highly marketable skills to institutions working with diverse populations. As the demand to attempt to achieve cultural competence in health care increases, health care organizations will need to expand their hiring strategies. We will demonstrate that including anthropologists in the pool of job candidates is a winning approach.

Konane Martinez is a doctoral candidate at the University of California Riverside, and worked as an intern at Molina for four months. In 1999 she was a research fellow with the California Institute for Rural Studies where she served, as a consultant on the first state-wide health needs assessment for hired farmworkers. The assessment, funded by The California Endowment, surveyed close to one thousand farm workers in seven agricultural communities throughout California. She is currently doing doctoral dissertation research that investigates migrant farmworker health issues on both sides of the border.

Dr. Margie Akin was a community activist and organizer in the Riverside area before returning to the University of California at Riverside to earn her PhD in Anthropology (1992). She worked as a university instructor and a consultant from 1992 to 1999, teaching anthropology, organizational culture, and related subjects to both anthropology and business majors from most of the ethnic groups in Southern California. At California State University San Bernardino she co-authored a major study on the universityÌs diversity issues, problems and solutions. In 1999 she went to work for Molina Healthcare as their Cultural and Linguistic Specialist. At Molina she has developed major cultural competence initiatives including a 6-hour training that is now part of the orientation for all new employees.

Konane Martinez, PhD Candidate
Intern, Molina Healthcare, Inc.
Graduate Student
Anthropology Department
University of California Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
Phone: (760) 500-7176
Fax: (909) 787-5409

Margie Akin, PhD
Cultural and Linguistic Services Specialist
Molina Healthcare, Inc.
22365 Barton Road, #304
Grand Terrace, CA 92313
Phone: (909) 430-0018 ext: 13
Fax: (909) 430-0071

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