Developing Cultural Competence in Physical Therapy

The renowned Purnell Model for Cultural Competence serves as the organizing framework for understanding culture and making it applicable to the field of physical therapy. Part I addresses the basic concepts and definitions of culture and leads students toward a better understanding of their own culture as a springboard for considering how care can be culturally appropriate for patients. Part II features culture-specific information from contributors who are physical therapy experts on various culturally diverse patient populations. The text explores disposition to bias toward others as a way to develop care that is both sensitive and effective.