Cultural competence, the ability to think, feel, and act in ways that acknowledge, respect, and build upon ethnic, sociocultural, and linguistic diversity. (Lynch and Hanson, 1998)
Cultural competence involves understanding and appropriately responding to the unique combination of cultural variables—including ability, age, beliefs, ethnicity, experience, gender, gender identity, linguistic background, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status—that the professional and client/patient bring to interactions. When we think of American culture, it's easy to picture certain symbols and rituals, such as the American flag, baseball, apple pie, and so on. But, for many, it's not as easy to identify norms and values that are shared by most Americans. When we use our beliefs to make decisions, we are assuming the causal relationships of the past, which led to the belief, will also apply in the future. Cultural universals are those guiding principles of human civilization that are so central to human identity that we can find them, in some form, in all societies - past and present - around the world.
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Americans express disgust at other cultures’ cuisine, thinking it’s gross to eat meat from a dog or guinea pig, for example, while they don’t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs. Such attitudes are an example of ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism is the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it through the lens of one’s own culture. Practicing cultural relativism requires an open mind and a willingness to consider, and even adapt to, new values and
Culture is “the total lifeways of a human group. It consists of learned patterns of values, beliefs, customs, and behaviors that are shared by a group of interacting individuals” (Stumbo & Peterson, 2009, p. 257). In order for a person to be culturally competence, he or she must be able to overlook stereotypes of different cultures and be able to appreciate the cultural differences. Dana suggested some culturally competent assessment, which must be considered when serving multicultural clients: cultural orientation, styles of service delivery, assessment methodology, assessment measures, and feedback of assessment findings (Stumbo & Peterson, 2009, p.
Let’s begin with what is the Culture? It is defined as “the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them" Lederach, J.P. (1995). Now let’s understand what cultural competence is. It can be defined as “the ability to honor and respect the beliefs, language, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families receiving services, as well as staff who are
Cultural competence as a concept is broad and inclusive of areas that go beyond race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and belief system. An approach to the care of patients should also take into account the values that the patient wishes to adhere to when receiving care. Being culturally competent extends to respecting religious traditions, family hierarchy, personal space, and end-of-life matters. Attempts at cultural brokerage can be made to educate patients while being cognizant that our model of care and interventions do not supersede the patient’s cultural values. (Dreachslin, Gilbert, & Malone,
Cultural Competence is important for many reasons. First, it can help develop culturally sensitive practices which can in turn help reduce barriers that affect treatment in health care settings. Second, it can help build understanding, which is critical in competence, in order wards knowing whom the person recognizes as a health care professional and whom they views as traditional healer, can aid the development of trust and improve the individual’s investment and participation in treatment. Third, our population in the United States is not only growing quickly but also changing, cultural competence will allow us as educators and healthcare workers keep up wi...
According to Cross, Bazron, Dennis, and Isaacs (1989), cultural competence can be defined “as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professions to work effectively in cross-cultural situations”. Denboba, MCHB (1993) believes that cultural competence is a “set of values, behaviors, attitudes, and practices within a system, organization, program or among individuals and which enables them to work effectively cross culturally”.
Cultural competence is significant to illuminate the decency of equally within society, it is essentially fundamental to functionality when interacting with diverse cultural groups. Cultural competence is essential for progressively developing standards, policies, practices & attitudes as well as acquiring knowledge of a given cultural origin & respond in a culturally-aware professional manner, respectfully. This manifests in extensive understanding & appropriately responding to the exquisitely unique variations in cultural variables of diversity that the professional & the client expresses through their encounters. The rapidly increasing diversity
In Haiti, the family is the most important aspect of their culture. When making important decisions, especially involving the health of a family member, the family is consulted. Family is so important to the culture that everything a person does is reflected onto the family. Everyone represents the family they are in. Because of this, every Haitian family has a reputation which can affect its status and respect in society. Families are so close to one another that it is mandatory to visit a sick member, even if they live far away. In a healthcare context, this can lead to a large number of visitors.20
For example, the Campinha-Bacote model views cultural competence as an ongoing process that involves the integration of the following constructs: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural encounters, and cultural desires (Campinha-Bacote, 2002). This model can be implemented into practice as I can recognize my own cultural background to prevent the tendency to impose any biases on another individual’s culture. I can begin to build upon my cultural knowledge by asking questions in a respectful manner to seek information about one’s culture. Most importantly, a desire to want to engage in the process of becoming culturally competent will be a deciding factor for positive patient outcomes. Examples of this desire may include, the willingness to learn how to conduct cultural assessments or a genuine passion to be open and accept differences between cultures. Moreover, it is important to recognize that cultural competency is not an end result, but an ongoing learning process (Campinha-Bacote,
Cultural competence like so many other social constructs has been defined in various ways. One particular definition as determined by the Office of Minority Health states cultural competence is a set of behaviors, attitudes, and policies that are systematically exercised by health care professionals which enables the ability to effectively work among and within cross-cultural situations (Harris, 2010). Betancourt (2005) implied cultural competence is starting to be seen as a real strategy to help with improving healthcare quality and eliminating the injustices pertaining to healthcare delivery and healthcare access. This appeal is gaining favor from healthcare policy makers, providers, insurers and
Cultural competence is defined as "all of the strategies and practices need to work effectively with patients from diverse groups based on an understanding of their beliefs, values, and social milieu"(Dreachslin, Gilbert, & Malone, 2013). The United States currently has "glaring disparities in access to health care and levels of treatment quality experienced by different groups" (Dreachslin, Gilbert, & Malone, 2013). These disparities can be measured through comparison of reference groups to another groups health (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2017). Integrating cultural competence in health care, is meant to address these deficiencies in quality care. An organization that has properly integrated is "vigilant and addresses disparities in
A significant role of healthcare professionals is the development of strong relationships with regards to being culturally competent. According to K. Davis, “cultural competence is the integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to increase quality of services…” ((Dreachslin, Gilbert & Malone, 2013, p. 109). Cultural competence in healthcare has been a continuous goal that follows four main steps: cultural awareness (recognition of the strong effects of culture on self and others),
Hence, cultural competence describes the integration of cultural knowledge, respect, policies and practices in the healthcare setting (Kodjo, 2009). Cultural competence aims to minimize the effect of cross-cultural health disparities and bias, as well as increase patients’ overall satisfaction (Kodjo, 2009), treatment adherence and willingness to seek care (Beach et al., 2005; Brach & Fraserirector,
Cultural competence in health care provision refers to the capacity of health care systems to offer good care to patients and accommodate employees, who have diverse beliefs, behaviors, and values to meet their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. It comprises of policies, attitudes, and behaviors that integrate to form a system that can operate efficiently in cross cultural conditions. Healthcare organizations look at cultural competence from two major viewpoints. Firstly, it is a tool to enhance patient care from all backgrounds, social groups, languages, religions, and beliefs. Secondly, it is a tool that strategically attracts potential clients to their organizations and, hence, expands
Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and patient which in turn improves healing and health.
We need to be aware of the diversity in the classroom. Cultural diversity includes: bi-racial, adoptive, immigrant, gay, and step-families. It is a large majority of the students today even in my generation. Focusing on making a balanced curriculum that exposes the students to all of these different backgrounds is very important. I know that it is likely that a teacher will not be able to cater to every student, but it is important to involve each of them. There is a large percentage of students that have dropped out due to the lack of having a connection with the curriculum. It is frustrating that we are lacking progress in our schools to help these children connect when studies show that each cultural group will soon be equal in numbers. We need to form a better