Glossary

• CLAS Standards
• Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)
• Cultural Competence
• Health
• Health Disparity
• Health Equity
• Health Literacy
• Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
• National Stakeholder Strategy
• Social Determinants of Health

CLAS Standards

The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS), issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH). These standards ensure that all people entering the health care system receive equitable and effective treatment in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

A collaborative approach to research that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community, has the aim of combining knowledge with action and achieving social change to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities.

Cultural Competence

The capacity to function effectively within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs presented by consumers and their communities.

Health

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease of infirmity.

Health Disparity

A type of difference in health that is closely linked with social or economic disadvantage. Health disparities negatively affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social or economic obstacles to health. These obstacles stem from characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion such as race or ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, mental health, sexual orientation, or geographic location.

Health Equity

A situation where all people have the opportunity to attain their full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of their social position or other socially determined circumstance.

Health Literacy

The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions

Limited English Proficiency (LEP)

A term used to describe individuals who do not speak English as their native language and have a limited ability to read, speak, or understand English.

National Stakeholder Strategy

A national plan that provides an overarching roadmap for eliminating health disparities through cooperative and strategic actions.

Social Determinants of Health

Conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities - the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. Examples of social determinants include:

• Availability of resources to meet daily needs (e.g., safe housing and local food markets)
• Access to educational, economic, and job opportunities
• Access to health care services
• Quality of education and job training
• Availability of community-based resources in support of community living and opportunities for recreational and leisure-time activities
• Transportation options
• Public safety
• Social support
• Social norms and attitudes (e.g., discrimination, racism, and distrust of government)
• Exposure to crime, violence, and social disorder (e.g., presence of trash and lack of cooperation in a community)
• Socioeconomic conditions (e.g., concentrated poverty and the stressful conditions that accompany it)
• Residential segregation
• Language/Literacy
• Access to mass media and emerging technologies (e.g., cell phones, the Internet, and social media)
  
• Culture

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