Caring ethics as the foundation for cultural competence: views of health professionals working in student healthcare context

Background: Cultural competence is recognized as a leadingcomponent in the delivery of high-quality healthcare. However, a lack of concept clarity has led to lower qualityand less effective healthcare provision for culturally diverse groups. Understandingof cultural competence in a healthcare context will be improved through theexploration of health professionals’ perceptions of the matter.

Aim: Theaim of this study was to explore health professionals’ perceptions of culturalcompetence in a student healthcare context.

Methodology: The material consists oftexts from interviews with ten health professionals in a student healthcarecontext. A hermeneutical approach was used and the method was inspired bycontent analysis.

Findings: One main theme and foursubthemes were seen. Themain theme was: “Caring ethics as the foundation for enabling culturalcompetence”, and the subthemes were: “Cultural competence as knowledge andacting accordingly with open-mindedness and respect”, “Cultural competence asbeing willing to understand and learn through a process”, “Cultural competenceas responsiveness and adaptability” and “Cultural competence as humility anddiscretion”.

Conclusion: Ethics can be considered acore component of cultural competence in student healthcare. In further research, a focus should be placed oncultural competence as perceived from other (e.g., students’) perspectives.