“Culture and Health: An Introduction for Future Health Professionals” was created out of a need recognized by faculty teaching cultural aspects of health to healthcare students. This text is designed to teach students preparing for future careers such as: health coaches, community healthcare workers, physical therapists, physicians assistants, medical and services managers, health teachers, dentists, chiropractors, pharmacists, podiatrists, and naturopathic physicians.

Rather than providing a dry textbook that students must trudge through, this text was built to be engaging, interactive, and reflective. The aim was to provide a text that allowed students to identify their own culture, understand how they view health, and what their expectations for care include. Building upon this, the text allows students to understand that others may have belief systems regarding health may not match their own. As a result, it is their job to reflect on the role of a provider in the settings of care.

With examples, links, videos, and resources built into the text, students will be able to utilize professional teaching materials as well as powerful anecdotal experiences. They will deal with real world examples and will identify current trends, practices, and behaviors and their impact on patient care and health outcomes.

Students need a practical approach to culture rather than an inflated viewpoint of culture. Too often, students believe that culture is something that other people have, not themselves. To build cultural competency and cultural humility, a student must become culturally aware.

This text allows for the that self-exploration in a way that humbles the students yet empowers them as future providers. It engages students through the included activities, reflective journals, discussion boards, pre- and post-quizzes for each chapter. There is also a final chapter dedicated to application of each chapter’s principles.