Factors Influencing the Multicultural Competence of Occupational Therapists in South Korea.
Oan Na Lee, Gyeong-A Park
A survey of 153 Korean occupational therapists found that ethnocultural empathy was the strongest predictor of cultural competence, followed by English proficiency, openness, and self-esteem.
The study is correlational — it identifies what is associated with competence, not what training will change.
Key findings
1Ethnocultural empathy was the strongest predictor of cultural competence (β = 0.557, p < 0.001). The full model including personality traits, empathy, self-esteem, and English proficiency explained 52.8% of the variance in cultural competence scores.
2English proficiency was a significant positive predictor (β = 0.179, p < 0.01). Therapists with intermediate-or-advanced English scored significantly higher on cultural competence (M = 66.73) than those with low proficiency.
3Cultural competence did not differ significantly by clinical experience, experience treating patients from different cultures, or experience working with colleagues from different cultures.
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design: everything was measured at one time point, so the study cannot show that empathy, openness, or language ability cause higher competence — they may simply travel together. All measures were self-report questionnaires; a therapist who rates themselves as highly empathetic may also rate their own competence more generously. The authors note that ethnocultural empathy and cultural competence share a conceptual foundation (both involve navigating interactions with culturally diverse people), so the strongest 'prediction' may partly reflect measuring the same underlying ability twice. Snowball sampling in one country (South Korea) with 153 participants limits how far the findings can be generalised. Only one participant self-rated their English as 'advanced,' so the variable was collapsed into two groups (low vs. intermediate-or-advanced), which reduces the precision of the language finding. The study did not measure organisational or systemic factors (e.g., whether the workplace provides interpreters, cultural training, or multilingual materials) that a therapist would actually encounter in practice.
Declared interests
Funded by Chosun University (grant K207830003, 2024). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →