Page 3 - ASCO Cultural Competency Toolkit

PREFACE
Cultural responsiveness is an element in any organization that seeks to provide exemplary outcomes
to multicultural groups. The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) recognized the
impact of cultural responsiveness in cultivating eye care practitioners who strive to increase access
and improve the quality of healthcare in a diverse and complex global environment.
In collaboration with its member institutions, ASCO published its Guidelines for Culturally Competent
Eye and Vision Care in 2008. The goal was to assist the schools and colleges of optometry in the
preparation of a diverse pool of optometric learners ready to address the vision and eye care needs of
a multicultural and global community. In 2009, ASCO conducted a Cultural Competency Curriculum
Training Workshop for its officers to enable them to implement the guidelines at member institutions.
The workshops conducted in 2012 consisted of on-campus workshops designed to address
institution-specific needs in adopting the ASCO Guidelines for Culturally Competent Eye and Vision
Care. To ensure continuity, ASCO’s Cultural Competency Case Study Competition for Optometry
Residents was introduced in 2014.
Because of the evolving understanding of cultural responsiveness, and other evolving terms such as
cultural competency and humility used to describe these concepts, there are definitions provided
within this text and we attempt to use the most accurate term to describe what is meant, although
when referencing the literature, the terms used by the source author are maintained. This toolkit was
developed as a resource for faculty and staff at member institutions and is intended to help “train the
trainers” and to be an integral part of their curriculum, not to replace a course or become a stand-
alone course.
GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY
1