No matter who we are or where we come from, every person was raised with cultural values and beliefs. The impact of culture on a person’s health is profound because it affects many health beliefs, such as perceived causes of illness, ways to prevent illness, and acceptance of medical treatments. Culturally responsive care integrates these cultural beliefs into an individual’s health care. Culturally responsive care is intentional and promotes trust and rapport with clients. At its heart, culturally responsive care is client-centered care. The American Nurses Association (ANA) states, “The art of nursing is demonstrated by unconditionally accepting the humanity of others, respecting their need for dignity and worth, while providing compassionate, comforting care.”^[5]

Nurses provide holistic care when incorporating their clients’ physical, mental, spiritual, cultural, and social needs into their health care (referred to as holism). As a nursing student, you are undertaking a journey of developing cultural competency with an attitude of cultural humility as you learn how to provide holistic care to your clients. Cultural competence is a lifelong process of applying evidence-based nursing in agreement with the cultural values, beliefs, worldview, and practices of clients to produce improved client outcomes.^[6],[7],[8]

Cultural humility is defined by the American Nurses Association as, “A humble and respectful attitude toward individuals of other cultures that pushes one to challenge their own cultural biases, realize they cannot know everything about other cultures, and approach learning about other cultures as a life-long goal and process.”^[9] Nurses improve the quality of health care by understanding, respecting, and incorporating their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and preferences, which can ultimately help reduce health disparities.^[10]

This chapter will introduce concepts related to adapting nursing care that considers all aspects of diversity.