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Cultural Safety and Cultural Competence in Health Care

Some Helpful Distinctions

Acculturation: The product of culture learning that occurs as a result of contact between the members of two or more culturally distinct groups.

Culture: Integrated pattern of socially transmitted human behavior that includes thoughts, communication, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions, and all other products of human work or thought, characteristic of a particular community or population.

Disparity: Racial or ethnic differences in the quality of health care that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention

Ethnicity: Groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.

Minority: Group A part of a population differing from others in some characteristics and often subjected to differential treatment.

Race: a human population considered distinct based on physical characteristics.