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Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). Improving Cultural Competence. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 59.)

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Improving Cultural Competence.

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Appendix GGlossary

Acculturation

typically refers to the socialization process through which people from one culture adopt certain elements from the dominant culture in a society.

American Indian and Alaska Native

people include those “having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment” (Grieco and Cassidy 2001, p. 2).

Asians

are defined in the United States (U.S.) Census as “people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent,” including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam (Grieco and Cassidy 2001, p. 2).

Biculturalism

is “a well-developed capacity to function effectively within two distinct cultures based on the acquisition of the norms, values, and behavioral routines of the dominant culture” and one's own culture (Castro and Garfinkle 2003, p. 1385).

Biracial

individuals have two distinct racial heritages, either one from each parent or as a result of racial blending in an earlier generation (Root 1992).

Blacks/African Americans

are, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (2000) definition,people whose origins are “in any of the black racial groups of Africa” (p. A-3). The term includes descendants of African slaves brought to this country against their will and more recent immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, and South or Central America (many individuals from these latter regions, if they come from Spanish-speaking cultural groups, identify or are identified primarily as Latino). The term Black is often used interchangeably with African American, although for some, the term African American is used specifically to describe those individuals whose families have been in this country since at least the 19th century and thus have developed distinctly African American cultural groups. Black can be a more inclusive term describing African Americans as well as for more recent immigrants with distinct cultural backgrounds.

Confianza

means trust or confidence in the benevolence of the other person.

Conformity

in Helms's model of racial identity development refers to the tendency of members of a racial group to behave in congruence with the values, beliefs, and attitudes of their own culture to which they have been exclusively exposed.

Cultural competence

is “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that … enable a system, agency, or group of professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Cross et al. 1989, p. 13). It refers to the ability to honor and respect the beliefs, languages, interpersonal styles, and behaviors of individuals and families receiving services, as well as staff members who are providing such services. “Cultural competence is a dynamic, ongoing developmental process that requires a long-term commitment and is achieved over time” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] 2003a, p. 12).

Cultural competence plans

are strategic plans that outline a systematic organizational approach to providing culturally responsive services to individuals and to increasing cultural competence among staff at each level of the organization.

Cultural diffusion

is the process of cultural intermingling.

Cultural humility

“incorporates a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and critique” (Tervalon and Murray-García 1998, p. 123) to redress the power imbalances in counselor–client relationships.

Cultural norms

are the spoken or unspoken rules or standards for a cultural group that indicate whether a certain social event or behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate.

Cultural proficiency

involves a deep and rich knowledge of a culture—an insider's view—that allows the counselor to accurately interpret the subtle meanings of cultural behavior (Kim et al. 1992).

Culture

is the conceptual system that structures the way people view the world—it is the particular set of beliefs, norms, and values that influence ideas about the nature of relationships, the way people live their lives, and the way people organize their world.

Ethnicity

refers to the social identity and mutual belongingness that defines a group of people on the basis of common origins, shared beliefs, and shared standards of behavior (culture).

Ethnocentrism

is “the tendency to view one's own culture as best and to judge the behavior and beliefs of culturally different people by one's own standards” (Kottak 1991, p. 47).

Health disparity

is a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion (HHS 2011a).

Hembrismo

refers to female strength, endurance, courage, perseverance, and bravery (Falicov 1998).

Latinos

are those who identify themselves in one of the specific Hispanic or Latino Census categories—Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban—as well as those who indicate that they are “other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino.” Origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality, group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States.

Immersion–emersion

is a stage in the identity development models of both Cross and Helms during which a transition takes place from satisfaction with the old self to commitment to personal change: from immersion in one's old identity to emerging with a more mature view of one's identity (Cross 1995b).

Indigenous peoples

are those people native to a particular country or region. In the case of the United States and its territories, this includes Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, Pacific Islanders, and American Indians.

Institutional racism

generally “refers to the policies, practices, and norms that incidentally but inevitably perpetuate inequality,” resulting in “significant economic, legal, political and social restrictions” (Thompson and Neville 1999, p. 167).

Language

is a culture's communication system and the vehicle through which aspects of race, ethnicity, and culture are communicated.

Machismo

is the traditional sense of responsibility Latino men feel for the welfare and protection of their families.

Marianismo

is the traditional belief that Latinas should be self-sacrificing, endure suffering for the sake of their families, and defer to their husbands in all matters. The Virgin Mary is held up as the model to which all women should aspire.

Motivational interviewing

is a counseling style characterized by the strategic therapeutic activities of expressing empathy, developing discrepancy, avoiding argument, rolling with resistance, and supporting self-efficacy. In motivational interviewing, the counselor's major tool is reflective listening.

Multiracial

individuals are any racially mixed people and include biracial people, as well as those with more than two distinct racial heritages (Root 1992).

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders

include those with “origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands” (Grieco and Cassidy 2001, p. 2). Other Pacific Islanders include Tahitians; Northern Mariana Islanders; Palauans; Fijians; and cultural groups like Melanesians, Micronesians, or Polynesians.

Nguzo saba

are the seven African American principles celebrated during Kwanzaa:

  • Umoja is unity with family, community, nation, and race.
  • Kujichagulia means self-determination to define collective selves, create for collective selves, and speak for collective selves.
  • Ujima refers to collective responsibility to build and maintain community and solve problems together.
  • Ujamaa refers to cooperative economics to build and maintain businesses and to profit from them together.
  • Nia is a sense of purpose to collectively build and develop community to restore people to their traditional greatness.
  • Kuumba is creativity to always do as much as possible to leave the community more beautiful and beneficial than it was.
  • Imani refers to belief in the community's parents, teachers, and leaders and in the righteousness and victory of the struggle.

Organizational cultural competence and responsiveness

refers to a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that enable a system, agency, or group of professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations (Cross et al. 1989). It is a dynamic, ongoing process.

Orgullo

means pride and dignity.

Personalismo

is the use of positive personal qualities to accomplish a task.

Race

is a social construct that describes people with shared physical characteristics.

Racism

is an attitude or belief that people with certain shared physical characteristics are better than others.

Reculturation

occurs when individuals return to their countries of origin after a prolonged period in other countries and readapt to the dominant culture.

Respeto

can be translated as respect but also includes elements of both emotional dependence and dutifulness (Barón 2000).

Selective perception

is, in Helms's model of racial identity development, the tendency of people early in the process to observe their environment in ways that generally confirm their pre-existing beliefs.

Simpatía

is an approach to social interaction that avoids conflict and confrontation. One who is simpático is agreeable and strives to maintain harmony within the group.

Syncretism

is the result of combining differing systems, such as traditional and introduced cultural traits.

Transculturation

is the acceptance of a part or a trait of one culture into another culture.

White privilege

is a form of ethnocentrism and refers to a position of entitlement based on a presumed culturally superior status.

Whites/Caucasians

are people “having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” This category includes people who indicate their race as White or report entries “such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish” (Grieco and Cassidy 2001, p. 2).

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