Page 257 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

Cultural Competence and Health Education 235

national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be sub-

jected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal fi nancial assis-
tance. ” In addition, in 2000, the federal Office of Minority Health published the fi nal

national standards on culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in health
care. Accreditation bodies such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and the National Com-
mittee for Quality Assurance support these standards.

5. To gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. The current health care environment is
concerned with issues such as health care cost and quality, the cost effectiveness of ser-
vices delivery, and the marketing of such services. Health care organizations that incor-
porate culturally competent policies, structures, and practices into their services for
people with diverse ethnic, racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds are well posi-
tioned in the current marketplace and for the future as the diversity of the U.S. popula-
tion continues to increase.

6. To decrease the likelihood of liability or malpractice claims. Lack of awareness about

racial, ethnicity, and cultural differences and failure to provide culturally and linguistically
appropriate services may result in liability under tort principles in several ways. For exam-
ple, health care organizations might potentially be challenged with claims that the fail-
ure on the part of their health care providers to understand and appropriately respond to
the beliefs, practices, and behaviors of patients breaches professional standards of care.
In addition, the practices of offering effective communication in languages other than
English and addressing the communication needs of persons with disabilities and those
with low or no literacy have been shown to be effective in reducing the likelihood of
malpractice claims.
Source: Adapted from Cohen & Goode, 1999, revised by Goode & Dunne, 2003.

that work is to fulfill all its functions we must join forces with health care and allied

health professionals to eliminate health disparities and to accomplish the goals enu-
merated in Healthy People 2010.

ACHIEVING CULTURAL COMPETENCE

To become culturally competent, health educators and health promoters need to under-
stand the complexity of cultural competence. Recall that cultural competence is

defined by the 2000 Joint Committee on Health Education and Promotion Terminol-
ogy as “ the ability of an individual to understand and respect values, attitudes, beliefs,
and mores that differ across cultures, and to consider and respond appropriately to
these differences in planning, implementing, and evaluating health education and

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