Cultural Competency means the ability to recognize, respect, and address the unique needs, worth, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs and values that reflect an individual’s racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, and/or social group.
Competency means a combination of skills, knowledge and attitude required to perform a task to the prescribed standard.
Cultural Competence or "culturally competent" means the ability to recognize and respond to health-related beliefs and cultur- al values, disease incidence and prevalence, and treatment efficacy. Examples of culturally competent care include striving to overcome cultural, language, and communications barriers, providing an environ- ment in which individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds feel com- fortable discussing their cultural health beliefs and practices in the context of negotiating treatment options, encouraging individuals to express their spiritual beliefs and cultural practices, and being fa- miliar with and respectful of various traditional healing systems and beliefs and, where appropriate, integrating these approaches into treatment plans.
Competencies means powers given to a public authority in respect of a specific activity which is key to ensuring the provision of a public service and includes powers of planning, regulating, setting standards, constructing, financing, managing, monitoring and evaluating, sanctioning or intervening in any way to ensure that a function is discharged;
Incompetency means a person lacks the capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or her or to assist in his or her own defense as a result of mental disease or defect.
