Dr. Josepha Campinha-Bacote

Campinha-Bacote is a noted authority on cultural competence. She asks healthcare professionals to view cultural competence as a process - an ongoing journey - towards becoming culturally competent. Cultural competence is not the mere acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes - it requires a genuine desire to work with culturally diverse clients.

She asserts that it is possible for a healthcare practitioner to have awareness and cognitive knowledge about cultural competency, but that skills are developed only through actual practice and experience. She states that cultural competency skills must be developed through actual encounters with patients of diverse backgrounds.

Cultural competencies are developed much the same way that healthcare professionals acquire other knowledge and skills- through direct experience (for example, clinical experience) as well as through didactic learning such as lectures and seminars.