The Importance Of Cultural Competence

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 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

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

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

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 competent? What is the big deal? “The term cultural competence is used to describe a set of skills, values and principles that acknowledge, respect and work towards optimal interactions between the individual and the various cultural and ethnic groups that an individual might come in contact with” (HumanServicesEDU, para. 1). Being able to understand and effectively understand other cultures than your own, can make a huge difference in the patient’s treatment and how well the case manager can do his or her job.

Campinha-Bacote constructed a model that depicts cultural competence into five different areas: cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural

What is cultural competence? When reading our book and looking at scholarly articles for me to sum up what I think cultural competence is, I found myself rereading each definition over and over. To me cultural competence is understanding that each person is unique and their care should be as well. Truong, Paradies, & Priest (2014) state “cultural competency is a broad concept used to describe a variety of interventions that aim to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of health care services for people from racial/ethnic minorities”. It is important for a healthcare worker to not stereotype a person based on their appearance or race. Not all people that appear alike believe in the same things. In their article Patient-centered care:

Cultural competency has increasingly been recognized as an important part of healthcare. Cultural competency is more than being ‘politically correct.’ It is an important part of ensuring that care is effective. Healthcare advice cannot be disseminated in a cookie-cutter fashion but rather must be conveyed in a way so that patients understand care instructions and genuinely understand the need to fulfill them. With this in mind, diversity awareness and education must be integrated into the education of all healthcare professionals from bottomof their careers. “A consistent body of research indicates a lack of culturally competent care directly contributes to poor patient outcomes, reduced patient compliance, and increased health disparities,

Exposure to a variety of cultures and having an understanding of those cultures as a PA is highly beneficial for several reasons. Having this knowledge would enhance a PA’s cultural competency by broadening their perspective, making the PA more acutely aware of symptoms pertaining to cultural attributes, and improving their critical thinking skills, communication skills, and sensitivity. Exposure to various cultures provides greater insight into the perspectives of the individuals of those cultures. This insight contributes to understanding of individuals, and therefore, opposes judgment and promotes productivity. Furthermore, this understanding of individuals’ cultures can help PA’s to be sensitive and sympathetic when considering a patient

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

Each one of us differs in culture; and because we differ in Culture, we individualistically perceive a situation indifferently. What is viewed by the U. S culture isn’t perceived the same from someone from a different culture. Each culture has different opinions; so how we see reality (the situation at hand) is different. Therefore, how we perceive the world isn’t really how it is because others will see it differently. And at times, we struggle to acknowledge other cultural differences, which intern leaves us to project and compare our perception of ourselves to others. Furthermore, this is why I believe cultural competence in psychology has the knowledge and skills to make a decision in someone else’s cultural context. Cultural competence in psychology has the knowledge and expertise to make a decision in someone else’s cultural context.

Cultural competence can be depicted as having the knowledge of cultural groups that are different from one’s own and to be able to work with that individual in a way that makes them feel respected and understood (Harkreader, 2007). For health care providers to appreciate the strengths of different cultures, values, and beliefs, they need knowledge, but they

“Cultural competence is everyday and reality based.” This expression is that cultural competence occurs everyday, yet is based off what is what one perceives first hand. Everyday we meet and see different cultures. Cultural competence is important for society as a whole. Culture has a special meaning to all; it can identify the human population into groups. Culture is passed down from generations, which include values and beliefs. Diversity in America is what makes it great a fine blending of all cultures. Being culturally competent is a challenge being a nurse has greatly increases my cultural awareness. Cultural competence is reality based to me meaning that our cultural competence should and must be founded from facts. The news does