Cultural Competency
NMAETC endorses the definition suggested by Terry L. Cross: “Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or amongst professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.”
NMAETC has expanded on cultural competency education to offer a broader and more comprehensive Cultural Fluency Program.
Why Being Culturally Fluent Matters in HIV Care
National statistics indicate that the HIV/AIDS epidemic affects culturally diverse minority populations in the United States disproportionately. In addition, cultures change constantly. Therefore, the manner in which health care providers recognize and respond to this diversity is critical to the development of effective culturally appropriate health care prevention, and treatment programs. Patients face substantial barriers when seeking care and treatment, therefore it is vital that health care professionals acknowledge and respond to cultural differences appropriately when addressing health issues and concerns.
Cultural Fluency
The NMAETC Cultural Fluency Training Program Curriculum includes components that demonstrate a commitment to the improvement and the delivery of high quality, culturally appropriate effective healthcare services
- Cross-Cultural Health Communication: To foster healing relationships across culturally diverse populations
- Skills that support cultural interactions: Communication, sharing, comprehension, integration, assessment, intervention, evaluation, and change
- Levels of cultural interactions: Individual, social, and structural (agency, system, political, government) levels
- Diversity and its relationship to culture: Race and ethnicity, age, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, ability / disability status, religion and spirituality, education, socio-economic status, language / communication modalities
Clinicians who complete the NMAETC Cultural Fluency training and use the Cultural Fluency Tools will:
- enhance their understanding of and proficiency in- health literacy,linguistic competency, and inter-cultural and intra-cultural issues.
- improve their understanding of: the general starting points for approaching, learning about, and interacting within different cultures.
- strengthen their capacity to provide the optimal culturally appropriate health care to their patients with HIV/AIDS.