Cultural Competency

What is cultural competency?

"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)."  -- From: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Minority Health

Cultural Competence in Health Care (a Wikipedia article, part of Rutgers University Libraries Wikipedia Project in 2014) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_competence_in_health_care

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