African-American cancer patients and culturally competent practice

People fear cancer and its impact more than many other health conditions. Because of this fear, oncology social workers have varying degrees of success enabling patients in their struggle to adapt to the disease and its treatment. Unfortunately, this struggle becomes more difficult when racial and cultural differences exist between workers and their patients. If left unattended, the dilemmas that evolve from these differences can cause considerable damage to effective worker-patient relationships and, ultimately, to treatment outcomes. This article proposes that through. the use of culturally competent practice strategies, oncology social workers can support African-American cancer patients better in their struggle to achieve an optimal level of functioning.