CLA Cultural Competence and Awareness 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Cultural competence in a CLA role primarily means:
- Knowing every detail of every culture represented in the community
- Having the awareness and skills to effectively serve culturally diverse clients (Correct answer)
- Imposing the aide's own cultural values during sessions
- Translating cultural idioms word-for-word
Correct answer: Having the awareness and skills to effectively serve culturally diverse clients
Cultural competence involves the knowledge, awareness, and skills needed to communicate effectively and respectfully with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Question 2: A client from a culture where direct eye contact is considered disrespectful avoids looking at the provider. A culturally competent CLA should:
- Instruct the client to make eye contact with the provider
- Note this as possible deception and alert the provider
- Recognize it as a cultural norm and not intervene (Correct answer)
- Ask the client to explain their behavior to the provider
Correct answer: Recognize it as a cultural norm and not intervene
A culturally competent CLA recognizes that communication norms vary across cultures and does not impose the dominant culture's expectations on the client.
Question 3: What is 'cultural brokering' in the context of a CLA's role?
- Negotiating business contracts between cultural groups
- Helping bridge cultural gaps that affect communication and service access (Correct answer)
- Replacing the client's culture with mainstream American norms
- Reporting cultural practices that seem unusual to authorities
Correct answer: Helping bridge cultural gaps that affect communication and service access
Cultural brokering involves helping clients and service providers understand each other's cultural contexts to facilitate effective communication and service delivery.
Question 4: When a cultural practice directly conflicts with US law, the CLA should:
- Support the client's cultural practice above all else
- Accurately interpret information shared by both parties without taking sides (Correct answer)
- Advise the client to change their cultural practice
- Refuse to interpret and end the session
Correct answer: Accurately interpret information shared by both parties without taking sides
The CLA's role is to interpret accurately and impartially, not to adjudicate cultural-legal conflicts or advise clients on their practices.
Question 5: Which concept describes unconscious assumptions a CLA might have about a client based on their cultural background?
- Cultural humility
- Implicit bias (Correct answer)
- Stereotype threat
- Linguistic relativity
Correct answer: Implicit bias
Implicit bias refers to unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that can affect the CLA's behavior and interpretation without conscious awareness.
Question 6: A CLA working with a refugee community should understand that trauma:
- Does not affect language use or communication
- May cause clients to avoid certain topics or express themselves indirectly (Correct answer)
- Is always visible and easily identified during sessions
- Should be addressed directly by the aide during interpretation
Correct answer: May cause clients to avoid certain topics or express themselves indirectly
Trauma can significantly affect how clients communicate, causing avoidance, indirect speech, or silence, which the CLA must recognize without attempting to provide therapy.
CLA Cultural Competence and Awareness 1
Cultural competence in a CLA role primarily means: