Research on the human microbiome, particularly the gut microbiome, has expanded rapidly as its influence on health and behavior becomes increasingly evident. Once understood primarily in terms of digestion and immune function, the microbiome is now recognized as a key contributor to brain function, mood regulation, and social behavior. Emerging evidence links microbial dysbiosis to the onset and persistence of mood disorders, opening new pathways for mental health research and intervention. This paper challenges reductionist biomedical models by advancing a biopsychosocial framework for interpreting health outcomes related to microbiome dynamics. The gut–brain axis illustrates the biological complexity of these interactions, with microbial communities shaping neurodevelopment and neurotransmitter production. Psychologically, alterations in microbial composition have been associated with depression, anxiety, and stress responsivity, while social determinants—including early-life environments, socioeconomic conditions, and relationships—structure microbial variation in ways that may reinforce existing health inequities. Focusing on women’s health, this narrative review examines how microbial states both influence and are shaped by interconnected biological, psychological, and social factors. Interdisciplinary implications of microbiome research for understanding and achieving eubiosis and holistic models care in both research and clinical practice are discussed.

Objective: This study delves into the evolving understanding of cultural humility, which encompasses ongoing self-reflection, critique, and redressal of power dynamics in medical interactions, fostering positive relationships across diverse groups. We analyzed articles from nursing, psychology, and counseling that touched on related concepts like cultural awareness, cultural competence, and cultural humility to chart their progression over time. Method: Abstracts of peer-reviewed articles from 2015-2022 were screened using keywords: cultural awareness, cultural competence, and cultural humility. Frequency analysis was conducted using the corpus linguistic tools Sketch Engine, to gauge the prevalence of the mentioned terms. Results: Between 2015-2022, the raw counts for the terms “cultural awareness”, “cultural competence”, and “cultural humility” showed distinct trends. While discussions around cultural awareness and cultural humility remained relatively steady, mentions of cultural competence saw an upward trend. Notably, “cultural competence” was frequently contextualized alongside both “cultural humility” and “cultural awareness”. Conclusions: The concepts of cultural awareness, cultural competence, and cultural humility have undergone significant evolution over the past four years in global usage. To further explore the prevailing terminologies that reflect an understanding of culture within healthcare literature, there is a pressing need for additional, in-depth studies. These will contribute to a more nuanced comprehension and discussion of how cultural perspectives and practices intersect with and impact healthcare delivery and outcomes. By continuously refining our understanding of these terms, we can aspire to more inclusive and holistic healthcare approaches that resonate with diverse patient populations.

Healthcare terminology shapes how disciplines conceptualize and deliver culturally responsive care, yet the evolution of cultural discourse across healthcare fields remains poorly understood. This study examined temporal trends and thematic patterns in the use of "cultural competence," "cultural humility," and "cultural awareness" across nursing, medicine, public health, and counseling and related disciplines from 2015 to 2025, using 286 peer-reviewed abstracts retrieved from three academic and government APIs (arXiv, NIH/PubMed, Crossref). Mann-Kendall trend analysis and Theil-Sen slope estimation assessed frequency trends, while BERTopic modeling with sentence-BERT embeddings, UMAP, and HDBSCAN identified thematic clusters. Cultural competence remained the dominant term overall, but cultural humility showed a steep post-2020 rise led by counseling and related fields; cultural awareness played a limited role throughout. Topic modeling identified three clusters: nursing concentrated in a competence-focused education and training cluster, counseling in a relational, clinically oriented cluster, and medicine's discourse was more heterogeneous, spread across clusters. Cultural humility functioned as a cross-cutting clinical theme rather than a distinct educational discourse, while cultural competence remained closely tied to formal training. These findings suggest disciplines are operationalizing distinct conceptual frameworks for culturally responsive care rather than simply adopting competing terms.

Background: White school counselors comprise 77% of the school counseling workforce, yet over half of U.S. students are students of color. As student populations continue to diversify, understanding how school counselors develop culturally responsive practices is essential. Cultural humility is a protective factor in counselor–client relationship building, yet no studies exist exploring cultural humility specifically in school counseling contexts. Objectives: This study was undertaken to understand how White school counselors experience developing cultural humility in working with students of color. Research Questions/Hypotheses: How do White (majority culture) school counselors experience developing cultural humility while working with students of color? Methods: We used interpretative phenomenological analysis to gather the experiences of middle and high school counselors from the Midwestern United States. Results and Conclusions: Four themes emerged: confronting cultural dissonance and being humbled by cultural mistakes/missteps; engaging in intentional and difficult learning shaped by relationships with students, families, and colleagues of color; sustaining commitment through ongoing challenges; and meeting students of color where they are by setting aside cultural assumptions and centering student experiences. Cultural humility development is a continuous, relational, and reflexive commitment requiring vulnerability, authenticity, and integrity. We discuss implications for practicing school counselors, school counselor educators, and future research related to cultural humility in working with students of color.