AZHIN: Cultural Competence in Healthcare: Cultural Competence Home

Cultural Competence in Healthcare

"Cultural and linguistic competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations. 'Culture' refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups. 'Competence' implies having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs presented by consumers and their communities." (Adapted from Cross, 1989).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Minority Health

Websites: Links and Resources

EthnoMed: Websites on Cultural Competence and Diversity in Mental Health
HealthReach: Health education materials in various languages and formats; special collections on emergency preparedness, refugees, women's health, and others.
National Center for Cultural Competence from Georgetown University. "... to address growing diversity, persistent disparities, and to promote health and mental health equity."
Culture, Language, and Health U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Health Resources and Services Administration. Healthy literacy tools and practices. "to improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities. "
Consumer Health Information in Many Languages - Resources from National Library of Medicine
Office of Minority Health, US DHSS
Culture Vision An online resource that supports cultural competency in patient care by providing access to information for more than 50 ethnic, cultural, religious and ability groups.
A Physician's Practical Guide to Culturally Competent Care Offers CME/CE credit and equips health care professionals with awareness, knowledge, and skills to better treat the increasingly diverse U.S. population they serve.
Culture, Language, and Health Literacy Links to assessment tools, culture/language specific resources, health professions education materials and more.

Websites: Standards

NASW Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence

National Association of Social Workers. “The word ‘culture’ is used because it implies the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious, or social group” (NASW, 2000b, p. 61).

National CLAS Standards: Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Healthcare

The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care (The National CLAS Standards) aim to improve health care quality and advance health equity by establishing a framework for organizations to serve the nation's increasingly diverse communities.

Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations from American Psychological Association