• Riley Carpenter, Carlos A Estrada, Martha Medrano, Ann Smith, and F Stanford Massie.
• University of Alabama School of Medicine (RC), Birmingham, Alabama; Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars Program (CAE), Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama; Department of Medicine (CAE, FSM), University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; Continuing Medical Education and Family Practice and Psychiatry (MM), University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas; Medical Hispanic Center of Excellence (MM), San Antonio, Texas; and Division of Preventive Medicine (AS), UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Carpenter is now resident in Department of Anesthesiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
• Am. J. Med. Sci. 2015 May 1; 349 (5): 442-6.

BackgroundThe objectives of this research were to compare a Web-based curriculum with a traditional lecture format on medical students' cultural competency attitudes using a standardized instrument and to examine the internal consistency of the standardized instrument.MethodsIn 2010, we randomized all 180 1st-year medical students into a Web-based (intervention group) or a lecture-based (control group) cultural competency training. The main outcome was the overall score on the Health Belief Attitudes Survey (1 = lowest, 6 = highest). We examined internal consistency with factor analysis.ResultsNo differences were observed in the overall median scores between the intervention (median 5.2; 25th percentile [Q1] 4.9, 75th percentile [Q3] 5.5) and the control groups (median 5.3, Q1 4.9, Q3 5.6) (P = 0.77). The internal consistency of the 2 main subcomponents was good (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83) to acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.69).ConclusionsA Web-based and a lecture-based cultural competency training strategies were associated with equally high positive attitudes among 1st-year medical students. These findings warrant further evaluation of Web-based cultural competency educational interventions.

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