Developing Culturally Competent Systems of Care

To be effective, a system of care for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families must acknowledge and incorporate the importance of culture at all levels of functioning to provide optimal access to mental health services for racially/ethnically diverse populations.

CFS staff have conducted a number of studies focused on organizational practices that offer examples of how the concept of cultural competence can be operationalized and implemented within systems of care to improve access to services and supports and reduce mental health disparities. Findings have resulted in several monographs which provide a new understanding of field-based, systemic and measurable organizational factors that lead to cultural competence in organizations and systems. This new knowledge can assist in addressing a key issue related to health disparities identified by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003) and the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health (U.S. DHHS, 1999).

Examining the Research Base Supporting Cultural Competence in Children's Mental Health Services shares results of an in-depth literature review that identifies and describes organizational factors associated with increased access for ethnically/racial diverse children and their families to quality mental health services and supports.

Organizational Cultural Competence: A Review of Assessment Protocols contributes to understanding how cultural competence is currently operationalized and measured at the organizational level. This monograph compares organizational assessment instruments through the following questions:

• For what type of organization was the instrument developed?
• How were the instruments developed?
• How do the authors define cultural competence?
• What domains do the authors use as categories of analysis?

Cultural Competence should be included in system of care logic models as a component of cultural competence strategies in more detail may also be developed by a cultural competence committee. Examples of these two types of models can be viewed by clicking on the links below.

• System of Care cultural competence strategies
• Cultural competence logic model