The Oxford Dictionary (2023) defines ethnicity as: “Status in respect of membership of a group regarded as ultimately of common descent or having a common national or cultural tradition”.
Ethnicity is strongly correlated with an individual’s identity, and it plays a significant role in people’s lives. Essential components of ethnic identity are how individuals view themselves, the way others perceive them and how they connect with each other (Yang et al, 2019).
Within the health landscape, ethnicity is a core factor in health consciousness and related behaviours (Yoonhyeung & Kwon 2020).
How is it best then to acknowledge and incorporate ethnicity into health care?
It has been suggested that ethnicity, alongside culture and context, needs to be harnessed in identifying risk factors for disease and improving the availability and delivery of effective healthcare therapies (Anand et al., 2020; Perez et al., 2022).
This involves recognising an individual’s ethnicity by acknowledging with whom they identify as and the cultural or national group that they ‘belong’ to. On a more personal level, this translates into ‘I see YOU and I hear YOU’ and fosters and promotes a proactive action toward improved health equity and collaborative relationships. Through a strong framework of respectful and responsive engagement, stakeholders are therefore encouraged in shared decision-making for both the planning and delivery of health care (Harrison et al 2019).
Acknowledgement of ethnicity is therefore important alongside culture and context in day-to-day healthcare interactions, as it promotes and encourages patient-centred and responsive healthcare interactions. Further, with the goal of improved safety and meaningful healthcare, it fosters improved consumer engagement and partnership.
This article was originally published in the Summer 2023 edition of ACN’s quarterly member publication The Hive. Members can access all past editions of The Hive on MyACN. Non-members can get a sneak peek by viewing our open-access articles.
By Tomica Gnjec MACN
References
Anand, S., et al. (2020). Prevention and management of CVD in LMICs: Why do ethnicity, culture, and context matter? BMC Med, 18(7).
Harrison, R., et al. (2019). Beyond translation: Engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse consumers. Health Expectations: An International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy, 23(1).
Oxford University Press. (2023). Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2023, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=ethnicity
Perez, R., et al. (2022). Improving patient race and ethnicity data capture to address health disparities: A case study from a large urban health system. Cureus, 14(1).
Yang, Y., et al. (2019). The importance of ethnicity: Developing a measure of minority ethnic value and value-expressive behavior among Chinese ethnic minorities. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Yoonhyeung, C., & Kwon, K. (2020). Testing the role of ethnicity and health consciousness in preventive health behaviors. OMNES: The Journal of Multicultural Society, 10(1).
