Making Good Things Happen
Cognitive Bias Training for Ohio Department of Health See Positive Results
Scale Strategic Solutions, in collaboration with The Eastledge Group, designed and delivered a comprehensive Implicit Bias Training program for over 1,000 maternal health professionals across the state of Ohio.
This initiative aimed to build awareness around implicit bias and enhance Cultural Intelligence (CQ®) to improve maternal health services and outcomes. Cultural intelligence is a critical skill for healthcare providers because it enhances their ability to understand, respect and effectively interact with patients from various backgrounds. The CQ® Framework is grounded in academic research and psychology.
Participants completed pre- and post-training CQ® assessments with results showing significant improvement—particularly in the domains of:
CQ Knowledge: Understanding how culture influences patients’ health beliefs, behaviors, and expectations—such as how they view illness, treatment, communication, and decision-making.
CQ Action: The ability to adapt how you communicate and interact to respectfully meet the cultural needs of all patients and colleagues:
Both domains increased by over 15 percentage points within 60–90 days of training, which represented a statistically significant improvement. These outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of the training.
Our team will design training in your organization to support the following learning objectives in a respectful and inclusive manner:
- Understand Unconscious Bias
Develop an awareness of how our brain uses mental shortcuts that can influence our decision-making in ways we often fail to notice immediately.
- Distinguish between Conscious and Unconscious Associations
Consider different scenarios when we make automatic assumptions versus relying on intentional beliefs.
- Recognize Behaviors that May Impact the Patient, Student or Client Experience
Learn to detect communication or behavioral patterns that may unintentionally impact care and service experiences and outcomes.
- Apply Effective Practices
Practice techniques that are supportive, respectful, and centered on the patient, client, or student to maximize positive outcomes.
A key element of the program was equipping participants with effective communication strategies. Participants learned that:
- Behavioral skills can be deployed to enhance interactions with clients and peers in a multicultural environment. Use simple phrases like “Tell me more” to develop your knowledge of what is important to your patient or peer and build psychological safety and trust.
- Clarity and emotional relevance are critical, especially in a fast-paced, soundbite-driven communication environment.
- Authenticity matters—messages must align with real actions to build trust and credibility.
- Audience-centric messaging is essential. Professionals were trained to shift from internal language to messaging that answers, “So what?” for those not yet engaged.
This initiative represents a strategic and measurable step toward improving results for all communities in healthcare through cognitive awareness, skill development, and behavior change.
Contact Scale Strategic Solutions today to learn more about Cognitive Bias Training and the Cultural Intelligence Framework for your organization.
