Course Description:

This course defines cultural and linguistic competency and related terms and presents factors that may affect your ability to provide culturally and linguistically competent care. This session addresses the need for self-awareness in culturally and linguistically competent medical care, discusses how to develop self-awareness, and suggests some self-assessment tools that you can use to facilitate your self-awareness. The difference between disease and illness is discussed including cultural and social factors that may influence a patient's experience of illness as well as the health beliefs and practices of some cultures. The session offers an approach to eliciting a patient’s cultural health beliefs that can help inform therapists to deliver culturally appropriate treatments. The course addresses the relationship between patient-centered care and cultural and linguistic competency and presents patient-centered care principles and resources. Specific communication techniques and patient-centered interview questions are offered to enhance cultural and linguistic competency skills to promote effective patient-therapist interactions and the delivery of culturally and linguistically competent care. Finally, as key members of health care teams, therapists have many opportunities to support their organizations in using culturally and linguistically competent practices. The role therapists play and skills required for advocating for cultural and linguistic competency in their organization are explored.