We conducted a systematic review of the literature to determine to what extent
strategies or interventions using cultural leverage are effective at decreasing health
disparities for communities of color. In June 2006, we searched Medline, the Cochrane
Central Register of Controlled Trials, and a cross-referenced engine, Web of
Knowledge. In addition, we searched the gray literature using The New York Academy
of Medicine Grey Literature Report. Our primary search strategy, developed for Medline and designed to maximize sensitivity of the search, was adapted for the other databases
and included key Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) search terms. For the
Medline search, we used the following MeSH terms:
((minority groups[mh] OR ethnic groups[mh] OR urban health[mh] OR urban population[mh]
OR minority[tiab] OR urban[tiab] OR inner-city[tiab] OR black*[tiab] OR
african american*[tiab] OR mexican*[tiab] OR native*[tiab] OR indian*[tiab]
OR latina[tiab] OR latino[tiab] OR Asian[tiab] OR Chinese[tiab] OR Japanese[tiab] OR
Korean[tiab] OR Vietnamese[tiab] OR Filipino[tiab] OR Hmong[tiab] OR Cambodian
[tiab]) AND (nurs*[tiab] OR physician*[tiab] OR health professional*[tiab] OR health
care provider*[tiab] OR health personnel[mh] OR health care organization) AND (randomized
controlled trial [pt] OR controlled clinical trial [pt] OR randomized controlled
trials [mh] OR random allocation [mh] OR double-blind method [mh] OR single-blind
method [mh]) NOT (animal [mh] NOT human [mh])) OR ((cultura*[tiab] OR multicultural[tiab]
OR transcultural[tiab] OR divers*[tiab] OR cultural diversity[mh] OR transcultural
nursing[mh] OR ethnic[tw] OR minority[tw]) AND (competen*[tiab] OR
sensitiv*[tiab] OR attitude*[tiab] OR experience[tiab] OR knowledge[tiab]) AND (education[mh]
OR ed[sh] OR educat*[tiab] OR train*[tiab] OR curriculum[tiab]) AND (nurs*
[tiab] OR physician*[tiab] OR health professional*[tiab] OR health care provider*[tiab] OR
student*[tiab])) AND eng[la] AND 1985:2006[dp] NOT review[pt]
For the Cochrane search, we used the following combination of terms:
1. minority OR ethnic OR inner city OR cultural OR race AND
2. health care OR health professional OR physician OR nurse
For the Web of Knowledge, we used the following terms:
(race OR ethnicity OR culture OR minority OR racism) AND (nurse OR physician OR
health professional OR health care provider OR health personnel OR health care organization)
AND (randomized controlled trial OR controlled clinical trial OR randomized
controlled trials OR random allocation OR double-blind method OR single-blind
method OR survey) NOT animal NOT review NOT international
To augment this search strategy, we reviewed the reference lists of key reviews, Web
sites, reference articles, systematic reviews, and books.