Applying Cultural Competency in Clinical Practice: Findings from Multicultural Experts' Experience

Abstract

This study employed a qualitative (grounded theory) method to achieve a better understanding, conceptualization, and operationalization of how cultural competency translated into practice could be observed and evaluated in social work students and practitioners. The research findings presented in this study were organized into three overarching themes: the spectrum of cultural competency development, essential components of culturally competent practice, and competent practice evaluation. The findings broadened and deepened current understandings of culturally competent practice by clarifying cultural concepts, incorporating clinical and cultural approaches to enlarging the scope of cultural frameworks, and identifying and formulating core cultural components in clinical practice.