The physical therapy profession's transformative power is magnified through a commitment to promoting and practicing a high level of cultural competence and cultural humility in all areas of practice, research, and education. It's the key to our future as relevant health care providers.

Far from being a limited set of prescribed skills, cultural competence is more holistic — "a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enables work in cross-cultural situations," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those cross-cultural situations aren't limited to race or ethnicity — they also can include language, religion, age, gender identification, and much more.

The CDC defines cultural humility as an active engagement in an ongoing process of self-reflection that informs deeper understanding and respect of cultural differences. It is a continuous process that involves recognizing personal biases and power imbalances, especially when interacting across cultures. Unlike cultural competence, which focuses on understanding specific cultural knowledge, cultural humility emphasizes self-awareness, openness, and learning from each unique individual. This approach promotes respectful, individualized care that values each person’s identity and encourages trust within communities, ultimately enhancing patient-centered care and health outcomes for underserved populations. While a major component of the cultural competence and cultural humility journey involves understanding and appreciating differences, working toward those "congruent behaviors" also requires individuals to actively engage in taking an honest look at themselves, their own biases, and how those biases may affect the care they provide patients — and the ways they see the world around them. Working toward greater cultural competence and cultural humility demands a willingness to learn and an openness to possibility.