Acculturation, Identity Management, and Cultural Competence

Immigration has brought various social, economic, and cultural changes to Western societies in the past two decades. Some of the changes are embraced by members of host societies, while some have triggered different levels of resistance. Acculturation theory has been widely applied to understand minorities' and immigrants' psychological adaptation in cross-cultural contexts and can also be useful to understand their health issues and behaviors. In an intercultural health communication context, it is crucial to understand individuals', especially immigrants', identity management processes. Immigrants continuously reproduce and reform their cultural identities by practicing their homeland culture in memory and their perceived host country culture. The ways they enact and renew their identities shape their health beliefs and practices. In the literature on health care providers' efforts to serve a diverse population, cultural competence as a theoretical concept, and sometimes as a theoretical model, has been regularly emphasized.