Cultural (Incompetence), Justice, and Expectations of Care: An Illustration

Abstract

The health care industry seems prima facie obligated to respond to the demands and expectations of those multicultural communities that make up its stakeholder base. However, as prima facie, this obligation fails to justify "cultural competence" amongst health care professionals or the health care industry. Without some justification, one can only assume that cultural competence is a bilateral process requiring multicultural communities themselves to assume the responsibility for their own care. Relying on a Rawlsian conception of justice, I argue against the view that cultural competence is a bilateral process in this case, and that health care professionals in particular and the health care industry in general have an obligation to attain to cultural competence in order to satisfy a fundamental principle of justice, what Rawls calls the "difference principle." CULTURAL COMPETENCE AND EXPECTATIONS OF CARE 2 "Cultural (In) Competence, Justice, and Expectations of Care: An Illustration"

A Narrative Study of the Experiences of Providing Culturally Competent Care by Frontline Staff Caring for Older Ukrainian Immigrants in a Mono-culture Long-term Care Facility

“…Cultural competence is defined in the literature as a "set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations" (Renzaho et al, 2013, p. 262). Many recognize cultural competence as the professional and moral duty of HCPs and healthcare organizations (CNO, 2009;Sanchez, 2008). HCPs who demonstrate respect for and sensitivity to clients' value-laden preferences, and appropriately incorporate cultural elements into the care routine, are said to be delivering culturally competent care, or CCC (DiCicco-Bloom & Cohen, 2003).…”

Exploring Outcomes of an Asynchronous Learning Module on Increasing Cultural Competence for Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students

“…Researchers in health care administration suggest approaching cultural competency with learning objectives spanning from knowledge and awareness to sensitivity and appreciation (Freshman, 2016). It has long been argued cultural competence is not an area of bidirectional learning where CLD populations assume responsibility for their own health care, but an area of responsibility for health care professionals to provide appropriate care to multicultural communities (Sanchez, 2008). Evidence suggests minority patients are less participatory with physicians who are not of the same race, suggesting the need for improved crosscultural communication in health care settings to promote patient involvement and satisfaction (Cooper-Patrick et al, 1999).…”