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PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Maternal Health
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2025.1498385
This article is part of the Research Topic High-risk Pregnancy: Women's Experiences and New Approaches to Care View all 4 articles
The Power of a Patient's Story: A Practice in Cultural Humility
Provisionally accepted- University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
As the United States grows increasingly diverse, healthcare providers will encounter changing patient populations. In obstetrics, patients often come with personal delivery priorities shaped by different life experiences, cultural expectations and personal perspectives, which may differ from those of their provider. Invariably, cultural conflicts can occur, especially when patient and provider priorities do not align. This article shares the story of a Congolese refugee mother within an urban metro area who faced such conflict when delivery preferences could not be accommodated. Highlighting communal apprehension to Cesarean delivery within the Congolese community, this piece also emphasizes how obstetrics providers can improve care for culturally diverse patients. In addition, this piece also discusses an American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) committee opinion, cultural humility and its incorporation into future curriculum for medical education, and the author's personal reflection of this story's impact.
Keywords: Cultural humility, Cultural Competency, Obstetrics, Cesarean Section, Maternal request, Emigrants and Immigrants, Refugees
Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Schmidt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Randall Blain Schmidt, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
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