Cultural Competency Programs --> Introduction to CC

• "Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system or agency or among professionals that enable effective interactions in a cross-cultural framework."
  
  

• "Cultural Competency is the ability of individuals and systems to respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds and religions in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the cultural differences and similarities and the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each."
  Seattle King County Dept of Public Health, 1994
  

• "Cultural competence involves recognition and respect for differences among patients in terms of their values, expectations, and experiences with health care, while at the same time recognizing the culture-based practices and dictates of organized medicine, and the values, expectations, and experiences of the providers who practice it. Culturally competent care becomes possible only with the skillful management of the interplay between these elements which make up a medical encounter, and determine the points of access or barrier at the institutional level."
  CCHCP's Cultural Competency Curriculum, 1999

CCHCP approaches the issue of cultural competence from a unique perspective which acknowledges its complex, systemic nature. CCHCP's approach places culture within the context of an interwoven network of relationships--between language and tradition, tradition and history, history and economics, etc. Consequently, the work of CCHCP has substantively differed from that of most organizations in the field that tend to deal only with pieces of the puzzle of cultural competence.

Participants in our trainings examine their own cultural values and evaluate their interpersonal strengths and weaknesses. They begin to recognize that differences in language, age, culture, socio economic status, political and religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and life experience add challenging dimensions to the dynamics of cross cultural interactions.

The Rationale for Cultural Competence

According to the 2000 Census data, the population of the United States grew by 13 percent over the last decade, and increased in diversity at an even greater rate. Racial and ethnic minorities are among the fastest growing of all communities in the country, and today comprise approximately 34 percent of the total U.S. population. It is projected that, by 2030, 40 percent of the population will be non-White.

The Institute of Medicine's 2002 report noted, “evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health care is, with few exceptions, remarkably consistent across a range of illnesses and healthcare services.”

There are federal and state mandates to help end these disparities ranging from the Joint Commission's requirements for language access and cultural competency to the fourteen Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In October of 2003 the Cross Cultural Health Care Program conducted a CLAS Standards Study, Reflections on the CLAS Standards: Best Practices, Innovations and Horizons. This CCHCP study, prepared for the Office of Minority Health, covers important CLAS topics including: origins of the CLAS Standards, site visits and profiles of five centers, oversight authorities, common themes, and literature review.

As the diversity of the populations that we serve continues to grow, the importance of cultural competency or "cultural and linguistic appropriateness" in the effective delivery of health and social services is undeniable. In the climate of managed care and federal cutbacks in funding of services, the pursuit of culturally competent care has become a business imperative.

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