Exploring the concept of Cultural Competence in the Context of Professional Health Care Practices

This paper discusses ‘cultural competence’ in the context of professional heath care practice and looks into how the concept has evolved. It especially, draws attention towards the relevance of this concept in the multicultural societies. While culture plays an important role in shaping attitudes, values, belief and behaviour of people and conceptualisation of cultural competence recognises why cultural knowledge is essential for professional practice. Thus, research in this field raises following questions. Firstly, is there a need for the practice of cultural competence in the professional areas involving interaction with people from diverse cultural, ethnic, national backgrounds? This calls for the issue e.g. how best to understand sensitivities and aspirations of culturally diverse people to be able to provide them the care in their own context. Secondly, is practice of cultural competence all about people management or beyond? In brief, the cultural competence model brings to the fore the need for the professionals to understand the people, their practices and beliefs that shape attitudes and behaviour in the diverse cultural contexts. The paper attempts to look at the notion of cultural competence drawing mainly from the review of relevant literature. While analysing its relevance in health care practices, the paper also explores the importance of such knowledge and skills across areas of praxis involving the interaction and participation of people in the contexts of cultural diversity. especially, in multicultural settings.