With the growing diversity of the U.S. population and continued evidence of health and health care disparities, it is critically important that health care professionals are educated on how their own and their patients' demographics (e.g., gender, income, race, ethnicity, etc.) and cultural attributes (e.g., language, religion, etc.) influence health, health care delivery, and health behaviors. In 2000, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) introduced two standards about cultural competence that inspired medical schools to integrate culturally informed education into the undergraduate curriculum. The Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) was developed to advance these efforts.
An AAMC project—made possible by The Commonwealth Fund—spurred the development of the TACCT to assess cultural competency training in medical schools. TACCT is a self-administered assessment tool that can be used by medical schools to examine all components of the medical school curriculum. TACCT enables schools to identify gaps and redundancies in their curricula and gather information from various parties—including students and faculty. It also serves as a blueprint of where, what, and when cultural competence content exists in the curriculum. This enables schools to make the best use of opportunities and resources to integrate this content. The TACCT can be used for both traditional and problem-based curricula.
Resources
Original TACCT
- Tools for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) (PDF)
- Tools for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) (Excel)
- Guidelines for preparing and completing the TACCT instrument: Using TACCT
- Background: Cultural Competence Education for Medical Students: Assessing and Revising Curriculum (PDF)
- Cultural Competence Education for Medical Students: Alphabetical Bibliography (PDF)
- Cultural Competence Education for Medical Students: Categorical Bibliography (PDF)
Revised TACCT
These publications are available on MedEdPORTAL, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of teaching and learning activities.
- A Revised Curriculum Tool for Assessing Cultural Competency Training (TACCT) in Health Professions Education (2009): Article Citation: Lie, D. A., Boker, J., Crandall, S., DeGannes, C. N., Elliott, D., Henderson, P., … Seng, L. (2008). Revising the Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT) for curriculum evaluation: Findings derived from seven US schools and expert consensus. Medical Education Online, 13, 11.
- Critical Synthesis Package: Tool for Assessing Cultural Competence Training (TACCT): Boardman J. Critical synthesis package: tool for assessing cultural competence training (TACCT). MedEdPORTAL. 2015;11:10298. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10298