Refers to the clinician’s approach to patient interactions, encouraging a constant awareness that cultural differences exist, with a desire to understand them without passing judgment 

Cultural Sensitivity

Refers to the clinician’s skill set. Requires self-awareness, with reflection on one’s own belief systems and biases, acknowledging that they may hinder patient centered care. Important to provide flexibility in communication styles, helping roles, and resource utilization.

Cultural Competency

A realistic mindset that no one can understand all aspects of a culture.

Cultural Humility

Training for most clinicians can miss out on necessary training of cultural differences for an easier and generalizable lens on healthcare. Solutions to this issue include:

- Cultural Sensitivity
- Cultural Competency
- Cultural Humility


University of Delaware

Most clinicians are trained through a standardized curriculum of different behavioral cognitive, psychoanalytic, humanistic, and neurobiological approaches. One major criticism of this model is that it views patients through a mono-cultural lens. This can be detrimental to serving groups that have intersecting identities because clinicians may miss out on important cultural factors that contribute to a patient's wellbeing.

Issues in Healthcare Clinician Training

Dominguez, Matthew Lee. “LGBTQIA People of Color: Utilizing the Cultural Psychology Model as a Guide for the Mental Health Assessment and Treatment of Patients with Diverse Identities.” Journal of Gay &amp; Lesbian Mental Health, vol. 21, no. 3, 2017, pp. 203–220., https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2017.1320755. 

LGBTQIA people of color: Utilizing the cultural psychology model as a guide for the mental health assessment and treatment of patients with diverse identities

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