Addressing cultural diversity: the hepatitis B clinical specialist perspective

ABSTRACTObjectives: Hepatitis B is a viral infection primarily affecting people from culturally diverse communities in Australia. While vaccination prevents infection, there is increasing mortality resulting from liver damage associated with chronic infection. Deficits in the national policy and clinical response to hepatitis B result in a low diagnosis rate, inadequate testing and diagnosis processes, and poor access to hepatitis B treatment services. While research identifies inadequate hepatitis B knowledge among people with the virus and primary health care workers, this project sought to identify how specialist clinicians in Australia negotiate cultural diversity, and provide often complex clinical information to people with hepatitis B.Design: A vignette was developed and presented to thirteen viral hepatitis specialist clinicians prior to an electronically recorded interview. Recruitment continued until saturation of themes was reached. Data were thematically coded into themes outlined in the inter...