Utilizing Cultural Humility as a Tool to Support Diversity in Clinical Research.

Abstract

As applied to the clinical research enterprise, "cultural humility" is a continuous process of self-orientation toward caring for others based on self-reflection and assessment, appreciation of others' experiences, and expertise on the social and cultural context of their lives, with an openness to establishing strong relationships within the research team and with study subjects. Applying cultural humility training to a clinical research infrastructure provides open awareness of biases, privileges, and the limitations of one's own knowledge. These insights may enhance one's approaches to interactions with potential subjects during recruitment and with actual subjects during study conduct while complementing existing cultural competency training and, in turn, supporting diversity among team members and research subjects.