The importance of the cultural context to health outcomes has only recently become a central concern and a part of the biomedical literature.1-3 A medical encounter is an interpersonal interaction occurring in and influenced by one or more cultural contexts. Ideally, this communication is the seed from which the relationship between the clinician and patient develops. It begins when the patient comes to the clinician with a problem, the patient is diagnosed, the appropriate therapy is administered, the patient is treated, and the clinician has rendered a valuable service. The underlying cultural assumption is that the development of a common language facilitates an easy flow of medical care, serving to fortify the relationship between the clinician and the patient. In the West, the strong cultural assumption is that this biomedical dialogue of exchange is based on the presumption of the autonomy of the individual patient, presupposes that patient and clinician come from similar cultural worlds and, therefore, interpret life experiences through the matching cultural and cognitive frameworks. In an ideal world, the model works. However, the efficacy of this dialogue and, therefore, the effectiveness of the medical encounter, including the ability to communicate in increasingly diverse cultural and biomedical contexts, can be especially problematic in the field of oncology.

This volume creates a multi-disciplinary dialogue about clinician-patient communication. It offers a description of the relevance of culture as a contextual effect that impacts the clinician-patient relationship. Some topics addressed include: oncology care, quality of life issues, supportive survivorship, etc. It is for physicians, nurses, hospice and palliative care professionals and public health professionals.