Communications and aging. A case for understanding African Americans who are elderly

It is important to recognize that the samples drawn of African American elders in the preceding studies were drawn from nationally represented populations as well as from smaller groups of subjects drawn from specific cities. However, these samples, despite their intragroup regional heterogeneity, share similar cultural experiences that are expressed in the differences found in four significant areas from their white peers. These culturally related differences should not be overlooked in either functional assessment or in rehabilitation strategies nor should these differences remain unrecognized in future research. Wallace and Freeman (1991) go further to say that culturally sensitive approaches to clinical and academic preparation of clinicians, through an infusion approach, are needed to provide information about cultural diversity in adults including health/environmental issues that determine health status and consequences on communication competence in multicultural communities, such as poverty, access to health care, genetics, stress, living environments, and diet. One clear approach to sharpening clinician cultural sensitivity to diversity among people who are elderly is to include aging cultural differences in the speech-language pathology curricula of colleges and universities and to begin to explore these issues more fully in our research and professional forums.