does, have the same customs and habits and beliefs.
It should be noted that this is not the same thing as outright racism or other forms of bias. It is instead a form of intellectual and cultural nanvetT. However, this does not mean that it cannot still be extremely harmful in a diverse society. Only those who both recognize (and value) the rules of their own culture while at the same time understanding that members of other cultures follow different but equally valid rules are fully culturally competent.
Cultural competence is defined as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations (Cross et al., 1989; Isaacs & Benjamin, 1991). Operationally defined, cultural competence is the integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to increase the quality of services; thereby producing better outcomes (Davis, 1997 referring to health outcomes).
The word culture is used because it implies t
...