Culture is the context for interpreting human experiences such as health and illness and provides direction to decisions and actions. Provision of culturally competent care requires knowledge, attitudes, and skills supportive of implementation of culturally congruent care. Cultural assessment requires a comprehensive and thorough investigation of a client’s cultural values, beliefs, and practices. Transcultural psychiatry is concerned with the social and cultural determinants of psychopathology and psychosocial treatments of the range of mental and behavioural problems in individuals, families and communities. Therapeutic alliance between the nurse and patient interactions helps in sorting out social, cultural, spiritual issues of the patient.In order to provide culturally competent care five key areas should be worked upon namely cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skills, cultural encounters & cultural desire. Nevertheless during assessing the client communication, physical distance or space, social organization, time orientation, environmental control, and biologic variations should be considered. Nurses today must recognize these critical needs and be committed to provide transcultural nursing care.Nurses must be sensitive to cultural aspects and knowledgeable about factors that influence the care of clients including issues related to culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, and social and economic situation.

Keywords: Transcultural Psychiatric Nurse; Culturally Competent Care; Culture Bound Syndrome.