Cultural Competency

Cultural Competency

At one time the United States was a predominantly white Caucasian society but today's society has become a melting pot filled with different cultures. An ethnically diverse society has made it more important for helping professionals to be culturally competent. There are so many issues that arise when helping clients from a different culture and a professional should respect each culture and be aware of the differences. The professional must be aware that some things that are acceptable in his or her culture may offend someone from a different culture. Some cultures do not approve of seeking help from outsiders or strangers so the professional should make sure to take his or her time in approaching certain issues with the client. Today many organizations and providers are evaluating the level of cultural competence of their employees by using cultural competence checklist. These checklists are ways of letting the person know what areas he or she may need to pay attention to because there is no wrong answer on the checklist.

A description of the cultural competency assessment tool the team selected and utilized.

Our team selected a tool called Cultural Competence Checklist by American Speech Language/Hearing Association the link is http://www.asha.org/practice/multicultural/self/. This tool is used as a personal reflection to heighten our awareness of how we view our clients or patients that come from a diverse, culturally populations. The tool asks us numerous questions that we must answer to test our level of understanding to other cultures view and values. Each question is answered from number one being that we strongly agree from number one strongly disagrees. One section is pertaining how well we understand that culture can affect child rearing practices. Another section is pertaining to how well we understand the impact of culture on our daily activities, understanding the cultural norms and how they can influence our communication, and understanding that the use of a foreign accent does not determine our intellectual capability or the ability to speak clearly in a native language. After completing the checklist, we are advised to review numbers 5, 4, and 3, so that we will be able to reflect back and learn from them.

Crystal's assessment and recommendations

After taking the assessment, I was able to obtain a personal reflection on my cultural competence. I only had three places where I needed to go back and review my responses. As I went back, I realized that the only area that I may have a problem was where I was asked if I feel driven to respond to others insensitive comments or behaviors. I feel that sometimes this may be difficult for me. But, I understand that I must not let it interfere with my career as a helping professional. Then, it was interesting to see how the assessment asked about understanding that a foreign accent does not mean that the person cannot speak clearly or has a reduced intellectually capacity. Although, I totally understand this, it was interesting because I have noticed about how American tend to look on others that speak another language or have a different accent. If I had not traveled to Africa and lived for many years, I would have continued with this mindset. I think it is good for us to travel to another part of the world in order to increase our cultural competence. It truly widens our perspective and our changes our mindset.

Bridgette's assessment and recommendations

The personal reflections checklist was a very resourceful tool. Many of the scenarios I could either agree or strongly agree. I found that I am comfort dealing with any type of culture, as the type of person I am, but there were a few things that I found through the use of this tool that just did not sit well with me personally. The portion of the reflections that indicated an understanding of how culture can affect child-rearing is where I began to disagree. I could agree or remain neutral (because I do not know much about how the different cultures raise their children), but when it came to discipline, I had to disagree. I have seen a mother (from a culture much different from mine) throw her child to the ground and begin punching her. I work at a shopping center, so when I saw this, I immediately called the police department. When they arrived, the father began to explain how in their culture, discipline is not taken lightly, especially with little girls. To me, this was unacceptable. No child deserves that. During this personal reflections tool, I began to think about how strict other cultures can be concerning discipline. My own culture as well as that of my future husband's is way too strict concerning discipline as well. Personally, I believe that many cultures tend to go to extremes to discipline, and I just do not agree.

Another concept I did not agree on is the view different cultures have regarding gender. I understand every culture is different, but everyone should be treated with the same level of respect regardless of his or her gender. I do not agree with women being mistreated, abused, or taken advantage of simply because their culture views them as the weaker sex. I know that in some countries, women are expected to do whatever they are told