Table 1.
Cultural Adaptation Terminology
| Term | Definition | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cultural awareness | Acknowledging one’s own cultural beliefs and one’s biases related to varying ethnic and cultural values, beliefs, and practices. | (Alizadeh & Chavan, 2016) |
| 2. | Cultural competence | Development of thorough understanding of disparities between values, beliefs, and practices including cultural knowledge, cultural awareness, and cultural skills. | (Fong & Tanaka, 2013) |
| 3. | Cultural humility | “Entering a relationship with another person with the intention of honoring their beliefs, customs, and values. It entails an ongoing process of self-exploration and self-critique combined with a willingness to learn from others.” | (Stubbe, 2020, p 49) |
| 4. | Cultural knowledge | Gathering information on the values, beliefs, and practices of others’ cultures. | (Alizadeh & Chavan, 2016) |
| 5. | Cultural sensitivity | Being aware of the differences and biases between one’s own culture and the cultures of others, as well as relating to others from a perspective of cultural acceptance. In health documents, it can be understood in terms of appropriate cultural adaptation of surface and deep structures. |
(Benuto et al., 2021) (Resnicow et al., 1999) |
| 6. | Cultural skills | The ability to effectively interact with people of diverse cultural backgrounds, including adapting and applying interventions that are culturally sensitive. | (Alizadeh & Chavan, 2016) |
| 7. | Cultural targeting | Adapting health communication materials to match characteristics such as values and beliefs shared by a cultural group. | (Halder et al., 2008) |
| 8. | Cultural tailoring | Adapting health communication materials to reach a specific individual based on unique cultural characteristics determined through assessment. | (Halder et al., 2008) |
| 9. | Deep structure | Incorporating sociocultural values and beliefs into materials through text. | (Resnicow et al., 1999) |
| 10. | Surface structure | Incorporating visual agreement (such as in images) with the cultural group, such as common facial features, clothing, and other environmental arrangements. | (Resnicow et al., 1999) |
The terms listed in the table reflect the authors’ corroborated interpretation and use within this article. These are by no means all terms relevant to all possible cultural adaptation situations, nor are these the only interpretations for the terms listed. Instead, these are the definitions that most aligned with the intent of this tutorial.