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Cultural Competence

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Enhancing cultural competence: panacea for all woes.
What really helps to enhance cultural competence? Before giving an answer to this so up-to-date question, I'd like to make it clear what cultural competence actually is and why it's so important nowadays.
Cultural competence is “the process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each.”[1] Linguistic competence is a key component of cultural competence.
Whay's the reason for developing cultural competence? Cultural competence is one the main ingredients in closing the disparities gap in health care. It’s the way patients and doctors can come together and talk about health concerns without cultural differences hindering the conversation, but enhancing it. Quite simply, health care services that are respectful of and responsive to the health beliefs, practices and cultural and linguistic needs of diverse patients can help bring about positive health outcomes.
Actually, a really wide range of activities exists to help improve our intercultural communication skills, so I'll set some examples that I like most:
Learn a foreign language
Use your foreign language in community service
Study abroad
Take a course in anthropological fieldwork
Serve as a host, tutor, or goodwill ambassador to people from another country
Tutor minority kids
Volunteer at a minority health fair
Study the world's religions
Take a course on global politics or global ecology
Become the pen-pal of someone in another country
Volunteer at an ethnic community festival, celebration, or pow-wow
Volunteer with refugees
Participate in an organization that

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