The recent trend in medicine has been to advocate for the need for culturaly compenent care, however it is rare to see work that specifically outlines what it means to be culturally competent and how to integrate that into one's clinical practice.  Moreover, cross-cultural studies have typically addressed mental health care with individuals and adults, with minimal attention being given to the domain of pediatric psychology. Within the contexts of child development, family psychology and health psychology, this course provides a definition of cultural competency and an overview of how culture influences health beliefs, practices, communication and subsequently, patient mental health care.  Various models that provide guidelines, assessment strategies and interventions for use in the pediatric health setting are presented.

• Understand the relevance of providing culturally competent mental health care in the pediatric context.
• Define pediatric psychology and related cultural terms as they pertain to this field.
• Identify 2 existing theoretical models on cultural competency along with the models’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Describe 2 strategies to assess the role of culture in illness for children and families.
• Acknowledge professional guidelines and 2 strategic models to enable the provision of culturally competent care to children and families.