My Cultural Competences

Cultural competency can be viewed as an ongoing journey of commitment and active engagement through the process of cultural awareness, knowledge, skills and cultural encounter (Coolen, 2012).Trust is the underlying purpose behind cultural competency in the development of health care provider and patient relationship. Health care professionals need to become more sensitive, respectful and attentive to the patients cultural beliefs and practices. Self-awareness is particularly important when communicating where barriers exists, unconscious prejudices may hinder the successful building of therapeutic relationships. In order to provide culturally sensitive pain management, a patients pain must be considered within the context of the individual’s

Cultural competency is critical in psychology practice. In the United States, the groups, which considered as cultural and ethnic minorities, are growing in the population (APA, 2003). Culture often influences the content and quality of people’s experience, perception, and response. Thus, it is important for psychologists to be aware of cultural influences on client’s presenting experience(s) (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010). Without a regard for cultural influence, there is a significant risk for the psychologist to misunderstand, misinterpret, and misguide his or her client. Such misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misguidance are not only unhelpful but can be detrimental for the client (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011; Pope, & Vasquez, 2011).

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 competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.

Cultural competency is the capacity of people or services to include ethnic/cultural considerations into all aspects of their work related to health promotion, disease prevention and other and other healthcare interventions (Cultural competence is important for several reasons, (Purnell, 2008a).First, it can contribute in the development of culturally sensitive practices which can reduce barriers that effect treatment in healthcare settings. Second, it can promote understanding, which is detrimental in cultural competence assessment, to know whom, the individuals known as the primary care provider and whom they view as the primary healer, can attribute to the promotion of trust and increase the person’s interest in participating

“The new mestiza copes by developing a tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for ambiguity. She learns to be an Indian in Mexican culture, to be Mexican from an Anglo point of view. She learns to juggle cultures. She has a plural personality, she operates in a pluralistic mode—nothing is thrust out, the good, the bad, and the ugly, nothing rejected, nothing abandoned. Not only does she sustain contradictions, she returns the ambivalence into something else”

People live very different lives. Culture is a major importance in everyone lives. Everyone has customs that they follow, and somethings are more bizarre than others. But it may be bizarre in one persons ' eyes, and be completely normal to another. Having the ability to understand one 's culture and heritage can really help you have a better understanding of where they come from. In the medical it is very important to understand where an individual is coming regarding culture. From understanding their language, to understanding what they are against in the world of medicine is a difference between life and death for some of these individuals.

Some of the author’s major points are the lack of understanding of what cultural competence really means which is bringing confusion about ways it can be utilized in the social work field. The confusion of the utilization of cultural competence is leading to the lack of consensus concerning the effective training that providers should obtain and the population being served with the cultural competence skills lack clear description. According to the author, the most popular cultural competence intervention in the healthcare system is the cultural competency training which is for health care providers and the two approaches that have been utilized in creating the intervention are; the programs aimed at improving knowledge which is group specific,

In this great nation we live in today that has been vastly increasing diversity bring so many great opportunities. But with these great opportunities there are also challenges that are continually looked over constantly. One of the challenges is our health care system that fails to deliver culturally competent services. Cultural competency helps to enable providers to deliver services that are respectful to diverse patients. This helps with patients own health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs. This is why this training is needed in every health facility. Many doctors go through this problem not understanding their patient’s needs. If I were a doctor I would use this skill. Certain racial and ethnic minorities receive poorer

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.

Cultural Competency Cultural competence is a system of corresponding behaviors and policies that enable professionals to efficiently work in cross-cultural situations. Three simple steps can achieve an equitable system that can be applied to any situation; knowledge of the client’s culture, acceptance of the client’s belief, and development of skills in inclusion. Each step cumulates to properly address a cross-cultural situation, such as adoption, or placing a child within a foster home. Adopting a child from a foreign country can lead to hindrances in the child’s development, as their culture should be celebrated and not bypassed for assimilation into a new culture and home. According to National Association of Social Workers (NASW), “Social workers should understand culture and its functions in human behavior and society, recognizing the strengths that exist in all cultures.”

This article elaborately explains the process of becoming culturally competent. It states the stages of development as Denial, Defense, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration, respectfully. The article goes in depth on each stage of development, the first three being stages in what is termed “ethnocentrism” and the last three being stages of “ethnorelativism”. While the different stages are being discussed, the author presents examples of each and emphasizes the fact that American’s are not the only people who go through these stages when becoming more culturally competent.

To begin, the cultural competence self-assessment revealed that with a low score of three out of twelve that I am not very ethnocentric. I don’t believe my culture and my beliefs are most important than another person’s. I think of myself as a normal young-adult trying to live her life, get good grades and work hard. When meeting or interacting with new people I don’t judge them based on their appearance and I treat everyone with the respect that they deserve by viewing them simply as another human being trying to live their day to day life. Although, when obtaining the score of five out of eleven for the for the universalism scale, I found myself to be closer to the mid-range area. This result indicates that I possess some universal assumptions of other cultures. I found this result slightly surprising and unexpected because I don’t believe that everyone associated to a certain group (religious, social-class, etc.) are all the same. For example, when reflecting on my own religion, being raise in a catholic family, attending church at a young age and going to catholic school, I do see similarities in terms of values and morals with others that share the same beliefs as me, but I also see differences. One stereotypical association with Catholics is that they all think that being homosexual, attraction to the same gender, is a sin according to the Bible. However, being a supporter of the LGBT community myself, I do think differently than other Catholics and for that reason I

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

After completing the “cultural competence checklist: personal reflection designed by T.D. Goode” for the first time, I was not surprised by my results. The results were a reflection of my personal understanding how culture impacts holistic care and my continuous need to improve my care. I have strived to become non-judgmental. I work to not let my personal beliefs and values influence my nursing care on decisions. When I practice this philosophy it provides better patient outcomes and promotes an improved understanding of cultural differences. This also enhances a safe and caring environment. “It is important for health care providers to recognize that care must be individualized and considerate of the cultural. Racial, and ethnic identity of the patients and their families” (Broome, 2006, p. 486) .There is much diversity in the beliefs and practices of the Indian culture and we should grant these individuals complete freedom to practice their personal cultural variations and the religion they choose.