Cultural Competence
Through an in-depth reading of many of the literature of international social work, we find it difficult to find a definition or a unified meaning of cultural competence, but nevertheless, I will try to shed light on the most important meanings of cultural competence concept.
The concept of cultural competence began to appear in the literature in the United States in the 1980s Bartoli(20013, p 49) and was a reflection of the migration movement since the fifties of the last century and thus led to the migration of America to the emergence and growth of different ethnic and ethnic groups, which also led to the existence of different cultural, religious, linguistic and health needs increased of its complexity because of its experiences in displacement and violence in all its forms.
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Culturally competent service providers are aware of how their own cultural backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, values, and biases influence psychological processes.
Although cultural competence is presented as a progressive and positive force for the challenge racism and discrimination There are a few obstacles that make it difficult to implement and in fact, achieved for the social worker and employers.
Critique of cultural competence
Critiqued that cultural competence for being unreachable.
Critiqued that Could be privileging group characteristics over individuality – opens for stereotyping.
Critiqued for implying that a client’s culture can be understood by the social worker who reads about cultures and asks questions, but the reality is more complex.
Not all customers are themselves familiar with their cultural heritage.
(Bartoli, 2013)
For some, developing Cultural Competence may be a moral and/or ethical consideration, whilst for others, it may be driven by a sense of commitment to political and stated norms of the