Report: Importance of Cultural Competency in Health Practice

This report explores the critical importance of cultural competency in health practice, particularly within the context of the NSW Health system. The author, a student, discusses the theoretical relevance of culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and cultural competence, referencing the Health Belief Model and other relevant theories. The report details the application of cultural competency principles in health promotion, including the author's experience with an Aboriginal smoking awareness campaign. It also covers the author's understanding of NSW Health policies, professional requirements, and the dimensions of cultural competence, including cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. The author provides examples of applying cultural competency as a cultural support worker, including a planned campaign targeting non-white Australians. The report addresses issues affecting culturally safe professional practice, such as the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the importance of staff training. Finally, it evaluates the author's commitment to creating culturally safe health services and outlines the qualifications and experiences that make them a strong candidate for a cultural support worker role, emphasizing honesty, sincerity, and practical experience.

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN HEALTH PRACTICE
Importance of Cultural Competency in Health Practice
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author note

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IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN HEALTH PRACTICE
Reasons behind being best candidate for the role of ‘cultural support worker
I am confident that my knowledge and study about health promotion would be significant
for the said role. As I am currently pursuing an advanced degree in psychology, I believe that it
will further enhance my ability to work for the NSW Health Community. During the course, I
was fortunate to study as well as work with various health policies and practices of NSW. This
has also helped me gain an overall understanding of the different legislative requirements of
health practice. In the coming sections, I shall attend to the means by which I will meet the said
requirements through relevant examples from theories.
Understanding of the theoretical relevance and relationship between culture/ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, and cultural competence
Within the course, I learned that the concepts of culture, ethnicity, cultural competence
and socioeconomic status are fundamental to the Health Belief Model (Sayegh & Knight, 2013).
The theory clearly states that health and wellbeing depend on an individual’s beliefs. Therefore,
it is important to possess deep knowledge about different cultures and traditions prior to health
promotion.
I performed the role of a health practitioner for the NSW Ministry of Health where I got
the opportunity to utilize my knowledge about the concepts. With a good understanding of the
Health Belief Model, I provided suggestions to the concerned authorities who were responsible
for the campaign to aware Aboriginal people about the risks of smoking. I suggested the
authorities that we should include Aboriginal students in the health campaign. I gave this
suggestion, as I am aware of the fact that indigenous people have a different perspective
regarding their health. To them, smoking is a means for alleviating stress and spending some

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IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN HEALTH PRACTICE
personal moments, which they term ‘time out’ (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2018). The authorities
welcomed my suggestion and it helped spread the message in a way that could be understood by
the Aboriginal population. The entire process demonstrates my understanding about the concepts
and the various social determinants that define health and related areas.
Advocating the elements and principles of cultural competency in reference to my health
profession
Being a health practitioner engaged in the task of promoting health awareness amongst
the Australian population, I understand the importance of being culturally competent. Valuing
and adapting to diversity, acquiring cultural knowledge, evaluating own cultural behavior and
understanding difference are some elements and principles that define cultural competency
(Garneau & Pepin, 2015). I was opportune to meet with some Aboriginal students and learn
about their culture. I visited the Gumbaynggirr community in NSW and met the elderly
Aboriginal people and some students as well (Aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au, 2018). Prior to the
visit, I had limited knowledge about the indigenous people and some misconceptions as well.
However, the visit was enlightening as it helped me have a clearer idea about the community and
their perception of health and healthy living.
Along with the knowledge of the Health Belief Model and other relevant theories like the
Ecological Model, that states that certain factors affect human health. Amongst these are the
community factors, which exert a strong influence on the individual health (Sallis, Owen &
Fisher, 2015). While working on the Aboriginal smoking campaign, I witnessed these factors and
then utilized them to plan a proper health promotion (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2018). I can thus assert
that cultural competency and its various principles and elements are relevant to health promotion.

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IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN HEALTH PRACTICE
Knowledge of NSW Health policy, professional requirements, and the dimensions of
cultural competence and relation to my profession
The New South Wales government has devised numerous policies for ensuring a healthy
life for its citizens. Some policies include the Mental Health Policy under which the government
has implemented the Mental Health Reforms 2014-2024 that would ensure achievement of a
healthy community (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2018). Further, the NSW Health policy also includes a
separate policy for Aboriginal health.
A health professional has a crucial role to play within the population (Who.int, 2018). We
are responsible for ensuring that each section of the population has access to improved health
facilities. Therefore, we have to possess great knowledge about the cultural dimensions like
cultural awareness, knowledge and skills (Huey Jr. et al., 2014). Within my course, I was able to
acquire these three dimensions and it was further enhanced by my participation in the health
campaign for the health ministry. The white Australian students often engage in anti-community
activities like bullying or attacking students from the Indian or other Asian countries (Abc.net.au,
2018). To make sure that these incidences are checked, professionals must train and guide the
students about the various cultures and the need to respect and value each community. I took the
initiative to reach out to the white Australian students and understand their cultural conditioning
that helped me assist the minority community students in a better way.
Applying dimensions and elements of cultural competence as a cultural support worker in
NSW Health
Valuing the diversity in culture within a society is a key element of cultural competency
and is vital to the job role as well. New South Wales is known for its diversity in culture with

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indigenous and other communities residing here. It is thus essential for me to know about each
culture, as that would allow me to approach a health consumer in a better way (Truong, Paradies
& Priest, 2014). Acknowledging the differences within culture is another important element of
cultural competency, which I can apply in my professional field. In order to test the applicability
of these elements within my field, I have decided to initiate a health promotion campaign
focusing on non-white Australians living in NSW. The campaign would focus primarily on the
intake of drugs amongst youngsters due to the feeling of isolation and rejection. I would establish
an online community at first and invite the white Australian students to join and share their ideas
on cultural diversity. In this way, I would be able to comprehend what the average Australian
thinks of cultural diversity and the issues related to health.
Identifying understanding of the issues affecting ‘culturally/socially safe’ professional
practice
In Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are a vulnerable group that
have been neglected and tortured for years. I have witnessed the reluctance and hesitation myself
while undertaking an activity for my course. Aboriginal people have a fixed set of rules that they
follow while interacting with healthcare professionals. When I had a meeting with an Aboriginal
elder, she did not make eye contact with me but she did respond to my queries. These little things
may cause cultural hindrance for both health professionals and health consumers.
A lack of proper training on cultural competency at the higher level of healthcare system
further escalates the issues that lead to failure in the professional practice. Many students like me
had reluctance in taking up this course because we had misconceptions about the different
communities in the country (Sheedy & Whitter, 2013). I can give a practical example of this as I

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IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN HEALTH PRACTICE
too had an encounter with an Aboriginal boy of 15 years old who suffered from depression. I was
initially annoyed and scared by him as he refused to share anything with me and often scared me
away. However, I am now confident that I can handle the situation in a better way after
undertaking this course and I can become a cultural support worker.
Evaluating commitment and innovation in creating culturally/socially safe health services
I can assure that I have gained immense knowledge regarding the job role and the minute
details that need to be taken care of while undertaking it.
After doing the course, I can confidently assert that I have attained good level of
competency that could assist me in ensuring a culturally safe place for the health consumers. I
am also aware that the professional place cannot run well if the staff is not respected and valued.
However, we have to remember that in order to ensure a culturally safe health environment for
the health consumers, it is important to develop a staff that comprises workers from different
cultures.
In order to make sure that the cultural support staff is balanced, I will recruit competent
people who hail from not only Aboriginal communities but also from other minority and non-
white groups in Australia. I will start an online campaign and invite youngsters to come and
share their ideas on the ways to develop the healthcare system in the country.
Reasons that make me the best person for the job
I believe honesty and sincerity are the two prime requirements that relates to every job or
role that we perform. I can proudly inform that I have both, apart from the academic and
disciplinary qualifications. I would also like to add that I have learned about the profession and

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all its nuances through practice mostly and hence I possess actual experience of working in the
field with the real people. Further, I have gained through knowledge about the different health
policies of NSW. In order to understand the policies more clearly, I have even participated in
government initiated health promotion campaigns like Aboriginal smoking and so on.

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References:
Abc.net.au. (2018). Why bullied children are reluctant to seek help from teachers. Retrieved
from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/why-bullied-children-are-reluctant-to-seek-
help-from-teachers/8357006
Aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au. (2018). Community Portraits | Data | Research & Evaluation |
NSW Aboriginal Communities. Retrieved from
https://www.aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au/research-and-evaluation/data/community-
portraits
Garneau, A. B., & Pepin, J. (2015). Cultural competence: A constructivist definition. Journal of
Transcultural Nursing, 26(1), 9-15.
Health.nsw.gov.au. (2018). Aboriginal communities and smoking - Tobacco and Smoking.
Retrieved from http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/tobacco/Pages/aboriginal-communities-
smoking.aspx
Health.nsw.gov.au. (2018). About Us. Retrieved from http://nnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au/health-
promotion/about-us/
Huey Jr, S. J., Tilley, J. L., Jones, E. O., & Smith, C. A. (2014). The contribution of cultural
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Clinical Psychology, 10, 305-338.
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. (2018). The Core Competencies Needed for Health Care Professionals.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221519/

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Sallis, J. F., Owen, N., & Fisher, E. (2015). Ecological models of health behavior. Health
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Sayegh, P., & Knight, B. G. (2013). Cross-cultural differences in dementia: the Sociocultural
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Truong, M., Paradies, Y., & Priest, N. (2014). Interventions to improve cultural competency in
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Who.int/hrh. (2018). WHO | Health professions networks. Retrieved from
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