Cultural Competence and Kidney Failure

The number of Hispanics living in the U.S. is increasing, and the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by 2060, one in three people living in the United States will be of Hispanic origin (Colby & Ortman, 2015). Hispanics are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes when compared to non-Hispanic Caucasians (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014A). Two major contributing factors to kidney disease include both diabetes and hypertension, and Latinos have a 1.5 times greater risk for developing kidney failure (CDC, 2014B). As the number of Hispanics increase so does the need to address these populations in a culturally competent manner. Providing culturally competent care with renal failure patients has demonstrated greater adherence to treatment and recommendations of health care professionals (Morales López, 2008). Being culturally competent, providing nutrition education in the population's native tongue, being familiar with the cultural habits, and foods associated with that culture improves quality of care. In the state of Arizona, Hispanics constitute approximately 30% (Pew Hispanic Center, 2011) of the population and there are over 600,000 Arizonans living with kidney disease (National Kidney Foundation of Arizona [NKF AZ], 2016). As an effort to address the complexity of renal nutrition, the National Kidney Foundation of Arizona offered the Cookbook: A Guide for Renal Nutrition however; it was not available in Spanish. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to create an updated Spanish version of the Cookbook: A Guide for Renal Nutrition, for Hispanic renal failure patients.