Cultural Awareness Case Study

Cultural awareness is the first step in providing culturally competent services to patients. “To work effectively with Latino clients, social workers must view clients through a multisystemic perspective, examining the micro, meso, exo, and macro system levels of their experience” (Lum, 2005, p. 100). Social workers are trained to view every patient through this ecological lens. Although, cultural competence is a higher level of awareness and takes time, patience, and practice. In practice it is easier to see the immediate environmental factors and identify interconnectedness and interactions supporting, or hindering the patient; then it is to look at historical factors that may be contributing to current difficulties.
Maria is a 22-year-old young …show more content…
The demographics of Latino Americans are very diverse in the United States. Two Mexican-American or Latino individuals could hold beliefs and values that vary significantly from one another. A social worker providing culturally competent services should be open to learning how the individual incorporates their learned experiences with their lived experiences into their lives. A true understanding of culture for an individual is in understanding the individual, not an entire identified demographic.
One consideration that was not present, but could have been due to the diverse demographics of Latino Americans in the U.S. is communications barriers. ABC Medical Center provides interpreting service for individuals that are limited English proficient (LEP). Accommodations include; staff interpreters, video remote interpretation, telephonic interpretation, and trained language assistants (“Language & Interpretation Services”, 2016). The utilization of family, friends, or untrained staff members is prohibited with the exception of emergent situations (“Language & Interpretation Services”,