NURS 6512
WEEK 2: MAIN POST
Culture and Cultural Competence
Culture is defined in our text as a reflection of the whole of human behavior,
encompassing thoughts, beliefs, interpersonal interactions, language, attitude, morality, and
values (Ball, Dains, Flynn, Solomon, & Stewart, 2015). Cultural competence as it relates to
healthcare includes an understanding of the key components of another person’s culture that
affect health as well as understanding one’s own thoughts and feelings on their own culture and
the culture of others. Cultural competence also refers to the action of utilizing cultural
knowledge in providing patient-centered care (Ball, Dains, Flynn, Solomon, & Stewart, 2015).
Blanchet Garneau and Pepin (2015) discuss in their article that there are two definitions of
cultural competence termed essentialist and constructivist. The basic idea of the essentialist
definition of cultural competence is that understanding is based solely on ethnicity and or
geographic location without regard to age, gender, sexuality, or socioeconomic status. The
constructivist definition builds knowledge of an individual’s culture based on the inclusion of
factors such as age, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. I believe that my culture is
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- Summer '15
- Psychology, Diabetes, The Culture, Native Americans in the United States, cultural competence , Nurse 6512 Week 6
