Multicultural Competence in Dietetics and Nutrition

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Multicultural Competence

The term “multicultural” is rather fluid and confounding (3). It is often used to refer to ethnic background, race or national origin. However, religion, age, educational background, gender, and social affiliations are but a few of the “nonexclusive” social groups that confound such “exclusive” categories as ethnicity, race or nationality. For instance, there may be fewer cultural differences between a middle class nutrition counselor and a middle class client from a different ethnic group than

Strategies for Increasing Multicultural Competence

To a certain extent every nutrition counseling intervention is multicultural or cross-cultural because counselor and client each has a unique worldview (2). The implication of this statement is that general counseling skills and multicultural counseling skills are not mutually exclusive. Many basic counseling strategies apply across the board. The breadth of awareness and knowledge in multicultural counseling increases as the diversity of patients/clients increases. We have only lately come to

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    Epidemiological studies often discuss morbidity along broad racial categories, but increasingly dietary advice should be personalised rather than assume that individuals have a set of food practices based on their racial background. We expect the need for dietary recommendations to be sensitive to inter-cultural food practices will be increasingly relevant to cosmopolitan settings in different parts of the world, as we join other scholars (Ayala, Baquero, & Klinger, 2008; Curry, 2000; Liu, Berhane, & Tseng, 2010; Vorster et al., 2001) in advocating for more flexible and tailored interventions in multicultural societies. Food was also perceived to serve a healing purpose for many participants in our study based on traditional health beliefs.

  • Language: A Crucial Part of Cultural Competency

    2008, Journal of the American Dietetic Association
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    Healthy People 2010 (4), in fact, calls for cultural and linguistic competency within a diverse public health workforce. “Therefore, entry-level and practicing dietetics professionals must be multiculturally competent in delivering culturally appropriate services (2). In addition, cultural competency is an aspect of programs approved by the Commission on Accreditation and Dietetics Education.

  • Cultural literacy in health care

    2004, Journal of the American Dietetic Association
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    At present, to some extent, a health care professional with a multicultural background is considered as having a niche in the marketplace. But according to Curry (11), this is the wrong way to view this skill set: “In nutrition counseling, where many therapeutic interventions are on a personal level, sensitivity to the strong influence of culture on an individual’s food intake, attitudes, and behaviors is especially imperative. If [dietetics professionals] are to meet our professional potential in the 21st century, we must strengthen our practice in nutrition counseling and communications.

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