Cultural competence in Swedish primary care : Are some providers more prone to be culturally competent than others?

Abstract: Cultural competence has become an important topic since the society has evolved to be more multicultural, these societies have a big problem with their healthcare systems and it is said that primary care in Sweden must become better adjusted to the needs of minorities. The objective of this study was to investigate the degree of cultural competence in primary care in Sweden and to examine if the degree of cultural competence had a relation to the providers personality, gender, age ethnicity and educational level. Three different county councils were asked to participate but only one agreed. From 13 different primary care wards, 111 participants filled in three different instruments measuring personality, cultural competence and social desirability. The result of Pearson correlations, partial correlations, two-tailed independent t-tests and a χ²- test show that the degree of cultural competence is relatively low. Also, persons who are more conscientious and open, less neurotic, and educated at a university are more prone to be culturally competent. This investigation shows that there is a need to make individuals who work in primary care more aware of these issues. The focus should not lie on personnel level alone, but on organizational level as well.