Cultural Competence

“Cultural 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. It reflects the ability to acquire and use knowledge of the health related beliefs, attitudes, practices and communication patterns of clients and their families to improve services, strengthen programs, increase community participation, and close the gaps in health status among diverse population groups.”

– Cross et al., 1989

• Culturally Competent Care refers to the delivery of care that is compatible with the cultural beliefs and practices as well as preferred language of victims and survivors and their families. Providing culturally competent care may require the implementation of strategies to recruit, retain and promote a diverse staff at all levels of an organization as well as leadership that is representative of the demographic characteristics of a service area. It may also require staff at all levels and across disciplines to receive on-going training and education on culturally and linguistically appropriate service delivery.
• Language Access Services refers to the need for individuals and organizations responding to emergencies to ensure the availability of linguistically appropriate services, including bilingual staff and interpreter services at all points of contact as well as easily understood and culturally appropriate materials. These services must focus on meeting the linguistic needs of Limited English Proficient (LEP) and low-literacy individuals and families.
• Organizational Supports refer to policies and procedures to help responders and response teams provide effective services to victims and survivors. This may include such actions as strategic planning, conducting organizational self-assessments, conducting needs assessments, establishing community partnerships and collecting data.