Cultural Competency

I have learned that it is important that educators  and health providers be trained on cultural competency to understand the population they are serving. Marks, Sims, and Osher (King, Sims, & Osher, n.d.) define cultural competency  as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross–cultural situations" ( as cited in Cross et al., 1989; Isaacs & Benjamin, 1991). Health providers and educators should investigate demographic patterns or trends in the place where they live and work. This brings awareness of the types of cultures that they might come across when they are working with people. Organizations should integrate and implement policies that promote the value of  diversity, self-assessment, manage the dynamics of difference, acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge, and adapt to diversity and the cultural contexts of communities they serve (Georgetown  University, 2004). Georgetown University (2004) also stresses that culture competency grows gradually and is always open for improvement.

Cultural competency is a set of appropriate behaviours, attitudes and policies among professionals and enables them to work efficiently in cross-cultural situations (NCCC, 2006). A culturally competent health care system can eliminate cultural inequities, provide greater quality of care, and have less patient dissatisfaction and more positive health consequences. A conclusion reached in a study (Palafox et al., 2002) states, culture influences the outcome of medical examination and; therefore, it is vital to provide culturally competent health care services. Cultural competency is especially important in the context of radiographic examination due to the variety of culturally different patients a radiographer comes in contact. The following case study effectively highlights the impact of cultural competency.

While examining the life of the Lee family, it was easy to identify that Hmong culture is much different than Western culture today. The Lee’s faced many adversities that not only affect their lives but the life of their ill daughter Lia. By analyzing culture, stigma, prevention, and implications, one can begin to see how the Hmong culture collides in the care of Lia.

Arthur H. Woodard, Jr., MSW Soulhelp@me.com Jim Wuelfing, NRPP Jim.Wuelfing@gmail.com  Name?  From where?  Doing what?  Why here?

To work effectively in a foreign community, it is crucial that short-term nurses have an understanding of culture, belief system, and their lifestyles. Nurses needs to be culturally competence in order to provide patient centered effective healthcare. Culture competence is the ability of healthcare professionals to understand the social, cultural and linguistic needs of patients in order to provide effective health care (Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, 2004).   A lack of culture competence can lead to poor patient outcome. For example, if a nurse has a poor understanding of a diabetic patient's diet, and food preference, that could inhibit the nurse's ability to educate patient to manage the disease.

I would have to rate our school between cultural precompetence and cultural competence depending on the year in question and even the time of year. We are aware that we have achievement gaps in our minority populations, particularly our African American and special education students. When test scores come back and we see the lack of progress for these special groups, we have meetings and provided professional development on differentiation and small group instruction. Only one year did I participate in a professional development where an expert on teaching African American led the discussion. Usually staff development sessions are more generalized.

Competency is something education and care services and educators strive for constantly. It is what a service must demonstrate to prove it is meeting or exceeding the National Quality Standard. But there is a special type of competency that all services must achieve to deliver high quality education and care to all children—cultural competency. Cultural competence is an essential practice of both the Early Years Learning Framework and the Framework for School Aged Care—My Time, Our Place. It is based on the principle contained in both frameworks—respect for diversity. Can educators and services ever truly become culturally competent? Many would say that achievement of this competency is always just beyond grasp. That is why the

Cultural Competency is a topic that resonates greatly with me, partly, because I am an immigrant myself; the biggest part, however, is that in the last 5 years I have been actively involved in the orphanage work around the world. I consider orphaned children one of the most vulnerable populations. The country I visited the most (may be 12-15 times) is Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Life experience coupled with professional experience has enriched the level of cultural competency that I function at daily. Starting my first career in the legal arena, almost twenty years ago, I carried more bias toward certain groups, often thinking in black and white rather than a rich rainbow of grays. Being empathetic to individuals that committed crimes against society and others was rarely accepted in my naïve viewpoint. After my first year of working with criminal clients, I began to understand that one simple act cannot define or give explanation to the beauty of multiple stories that fill the chapters in an individual’s life. I learned that I could not fully understand what led to the story that was playing out before me without

competence is an imperative aspect that practicing social workers need to employ when providing treatment to clients. Daniel’s treatment provider has to maintain cultural sensitivity when assisting him with obtaining a higher quality of life. Daniel’s ethnicity, age, sex, class, and veteran status require that the treatment provider have knowledge regarding Daniel’s diverse cultural background. Treatment providers that are working with specific populations such as the military must acquire knowledge surrounding the experiences of military personnel, families and children (Cederbaum et al., 2014).

"A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come together as a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. The word "culture" is used because it implies the integrated pattern of human thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group. The word competence is used because it implies having a capacity to function effectively."

Human Services is a profession that experiences an elevated degree of varied cultures. Therefore, cultural competency is significant for human service professionals. Cultural competence illustrates a set of skills, values and principles that recognizes value and work towards the most favorable interactions involving the individual and the various cultural professionals work with (“Understanding Cultural Competency,” 2015). In the reading of this paper, I will enhance the knowledge of culture in human services focusing on Culture Competency: Intergenerational Welfare Dependency. I will also clarify how culture and the article selected are relevant to the program or area of practice that I identify with.

Introduction and Aims “A police officer who killed an unarmed college football player during a suspected burglary at a Texas car dealership was fired Tuesday for making mistakes that the city's police chief said caused a deadly confrontation that put him and other officers in danger. The officer, identified by the department as 49-year-old Brad Miller, graduated from the police academy in March 2015. He has been in field training and working under the supervision of a training officer, the department said. The training officer and other officers were on the scene when the shooting occurred, Rodriguez said” (The Brownsville Herald, 2015 August 11).

Understand cultural competence and why is it important especially for that have a diverse workforce.

Patients and their families bring culturally specific beliefs regarding the ideas about health and illness, reporting symptoms, expectations for the delivery of health care, and views about medication and treatment. A culturally sensitivity individual recognizes the differences between cultures and accepts them. Healthcare providers are urged to recognize, respect, and integrate clients' cultural beliefs and practices into health prescriptions (Purnell, 2005, p. 8). A failure to appreciate these differences may cause a misunderstanding or miscommunication about healthcare. Language is the foundation for effective nurse-patient relationships and is important for interpersonal and cross-cultural communication.