5-Minute MCH: Module 7.3

1. How to Advance Yourself as an MCH Leader (Self-Reflection Strategy). Identify your personal strengths and areas of growth by taking 5 minutes to register/log-in to the MCH Navigator's Self-Assessment and answer questions related to Competency 7: Cultural Competency.
2. How to Find and Use Tools to Help You (Information Strategy). There are a great number of resources in the field that address cultural and linguistic competence, but where to start? The National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH) has developed a number of resources to get you going, including a Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health knowledge path, a Culturally Competent Services professional resource brief, and a Translation Toolkit for Health Professionals.
3. How to Activate Your Organization (Organizational Strategy). Assessing attitudes, practices, policies and structures of administrators and service providers is a necessary, effective and systematic way to plan for and incorporate cultural competence within an organization. The National Center for Cultural Competence has developed A Guide to Planning and Implementing Cultural Competence Organizational Self-Assessment that provides the benefits of conducting the assessment as well as useful steps to making it happen within your organization. You can also use two assessments that they have developed: The Cultural and Linguistic Competence Assessment for Disability Organizations and for Family Organizations. Cultural competence in service delivery is increasingly important to respond to demographic changes in the United States; eliminate long-standing disparities in the health status of people of diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds; improve the quality of services and health outcomes; and meet legislative, regulatory, and accreditation mandates. The American Speech Language Hearing Association has developed the Cultural Competence Checklist: Policies and Procedures, a tool to heighten awareness of the impact of cultural and linguistic factors.
4. How to Incorporate Partners (Systems Strategy). The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care provide a framework for all health care organizations to best serve the nation's increasingly diverse communities. Since the enhanced CLAS Standards' publication, many entities across the country have adopted the standards, including several states who have created toolkits, trainings, and other materials to guide organizations’ implementation of the standards:
   • Arizona’s Health Disparities Center provides a guide to Implementing CLAS Standards and Improving Cultural Competency and Language Access.
   •  The Massachusetts Office of Health Equity published a guide to implementing the standards called Making CLAS Happen: Six Areas for Action.
   • Maryland’s Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities has developed toolkits on the standards' implementation.
   •  The Utah Office of Health Disparities has developed a video and related discussion guide called A Class about CLAS, as well as a CLAS Toolkit.
   •  The Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities in Washington created modules for e-learning and in-person trainings on the standards.
   •  We would love to hear how your organization is adopting and implementing the National CLAS Standards. Share your experiences with us.
5. How to Engage Your Communities. Health care organizations should give careful consideration to the values and principles that govern their participation in community engagement. The National Center for Cultural Competence's Checklist to Facilitate Cultural Competence in Community Engagement is designed to guide health care organizations in developing and administering policies that support cultural and linguistic competence in community engagement. It is a part of their larger policy brief on Engaging Communities to Realize the Vision of One Hundred Percent Access and Zero Health Disparities: A Culturally Competent Approach.
   

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• "Really good information on the CLAS standards. I hadn't realized how many states are using them. It's going to give me some new ideas for incorporating them into work here."
• These assessments look actually doable, which is always a concern. How to take the time to put cultural competency into place when we have new staff all the time who hasn't had this background."