In the context of public administration and public service delivery, culture then
influences an individual, family, or group’s views toward health, poverty, welfare,
crime and other social and human services areas as well as outcomes of public agency
services interventions. Therefore, understanding culture helps public service delivery
providers avoid stereotypes and biases while at the same time promoting in a positive
way characteristics of particular groups (US DHHS, 2001b). When culture is ignored or
not considered by a public agency or public service provider, individuals, families, and
groups are not getting the services or support they need, or worse yet, individuals,
families, and groups are receiving services and assistance that is perhaps more
harmful than helpful. Competence is “having the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be
effective in a particular area” (US DHHS, 2001b, p. 2) or having attained a level of
mastery (US DHHS, 2001b, p. 3). In cross-cultural situations, competence is the capacity
to function within the context of culturally integrated patterns of human behavior
defined by a group. Thus, being competent in cross-cultural situations means learning
new patterns of behavior and effectively applying them in appropriate settings.
When the terms culture and competence are combined into a unified concept several
definitions emerge. Cross et al. (1989) define cultural competency as a “set of cultural
behaviors and attitudes integrated into the practice methods of a system, agency, or its
professionals that enables them to work effectively in cross cultural situations”. Cross
et al. also see cultural competency as a developmental process occurring along a
negative-positive continuum consisting of six possibilities starting from one end
(negative) and building toward the other end (positive)