Culturally specific health care model for ensuring health care use by rural, ethnically diverse families affected by HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This article describes the culturally specific health care model (CSHCM). The CSHCM can guide health social workers in assessing and intervening with rural, ethnically diverse families. Such families require specialized and regular health care but generally face many barriers in obtaining that care. The model relies on a culturally specific description of the target community, a culturally sensitive approach to assessment and intervention, the use of key indigenous providers, and interdisciplinary collaboration among providers. The author describes the use of the CSHCM as an emergency intervention with eight hard-to-reach families with HIV/AIDS in a rural region with an unusually high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.