Cultural mistrust and use of hospice care: challenges and remedies

Cultural mistrust is a prominent barrier to the involvement of African Americans in hospice care. While disavowing the theory that cultural mistrust has its origin in any single factor or event, it is argued that there needs only to exist the cultural construct of community for cultural mistrust to perpetuate itself among any ethnic group. The attitudes toward hospice care are advanced as illustrative of the relationship between African Americans and the health care system, and many other institutions of American society. From a perspective that accepts the existence of the phenomenon of cultural mistrust, suggestions for structuring training for cultural competence are discussed. These suggestions are relevant for workers in institutions that serve the African American community in critical health care areas in general, and administrators and staff of hospices in particular.