Summary: Cultural Competency Skills

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).

It have been proven effective in providing services to individuals from a wide spread of diverse backgrounds. Cultural competence is understanding a set of congruent behaviors, knowledge, attitudes and policies that enable effective work in cross-cultural situations (Bazron, Cross, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989). This means that an individual trains to understand different cultural groups. Cultural competency training is beneficial to all human service organizations because it aims to increase the knowledge and skills to improve one’s ability to efficiently serve different cultural groups therefore eliminating biases and

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.

The progress I have made on building cultural competence is I met this guy while I was at work, and he was telling about how his insurance won’t be able to cover for his visit to campus health. I suggested to him that maybe he change health care providers to someone who can possibly help cover more things than the one he has now. Also in one of my public health classes one of my teachers is having a luncheon with people who have HIV and I know if I go to the event I can get a better insight on what they are dealing with and find out ways to help them, since the luncheon is ran by an organization that helps people who live with HIV, or I could just give them support

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

The EYLF proposes that cultural competency cannot be mastered but is something educators continually strive for; by respecting, understanding, engaging with and positively acknowledging and teaching cultural diversity within the childcare industry.

To be a culturally competent practitioner you need to be aware of our own cultural influences and values, beliefs and practices. Culturally competent practitioner is regardless of the diversity within the setting, it is essential that children are exposed to different diverse languages, beliefs, practices, family structures and interaction styles that are encouraged to develop positive attitudes and differences. As well as striving to provide a consistent service who are open to difference and change. Culturally competent practitioner needs to explore ways, show different skills, show a wide range of knowledge and attitudes to make the world a peaceful place, who will make people grow and shine.

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.

I believe I can improve my cultural competence by learning to understand the opinions of family members about the intervention process with older and elderly individuals. I enjoy helping and serving people, so it is hard for me to understand that some patients and families do not want to seek help. I need to learn to set my own opinions aside and be competent toward the wants and needs of the family.

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.

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

I was able to demonstrate cultural competence when I volunteered at the hospital reading books to patients. I had a chance to interact with diverse groups and learn about different cultures. Some patients used to teach me their language and this is how I became more culturally sensitive. In the beginning, I had a hard problem connecting with them because I lacked the knowledge of their cultural practices. So to solve this, first I had to become aware of my own culture by asking my parents some questions and reading books that pertain to my culture. I had to understand how my culture has affected me before I understand how it affects others. The reason that I thought this was important was because if I become comfortable talking about my culture

It is important to first define cultural competency, as the ability for health professionals to work in situations where their personal culture may not be identical to that of the patient they are interacting with (Blackburn, 2015). Unfortunately, there is no definitive definition utilized across professions (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2011). This can make it difficult to pursue in both teaching it and evaluating it. In fact, this study will only touch on one method of evaluating cultural competence with three subscores: awareness, organization, and skills (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2011). This is not the only way to interpret and evaluate the particular realm of competence however, as there was yet another method of evaluation using five subsets: awareness/sensitivity, behaviors, patient-centered communication, practice orientation, and self-assessment (Schwarze, Witte, Sellers, Luzadis, Weiner, Domingo-Snyder, & Page Jr., 2015). This poses a solution to the lack of cultural competency and awareness; however the discord between methods of evaluation can also pose a problem with consistency.

Cultural competency is an indispensable in nursing practice so that nurses can deliver optimal care for patients from diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, insufficient knowledge and skills of cultural competency has continued to increase racial and ethnic inequalities in healthcare service for minority groups (Dunagan et al. 2013; Long, 2012). As nurses interact with clients they provide nursing care, education and advocacy at any point in need. Cultural awareness remains the basis for nurses to develop of interest to continue and advance in knowledge and skills to deliver cultural competent care (Calvillo, 2009). To complete the critical analysis of the integrative