A New Curriculum Resource to Teach Cultural Competency
AVAILABLE IN THE SAHS CULTURAL DIVERSITY LIBRARY:
A NEW CURRICULUM RESOURCE TO TEACH CULTURAL COMPETENCY
Sunita Mutha, Carol Allen, Melissa Welch. Toward Culturally Competent Care: A Toolbox for Teaching Communication Strategies. San Francisco, CA: Center for the Health Professions, University of California – San Francisco, 2002.
This publication is more than just another book on cultural competency. It is a cornucopia of teaching scenarios, aids, guides, and exercises to help students explore the many aspects of cultural diversity and, specifically, how they are applied in the health care setting by health professionals. I have had the opportunity to see numerous cultural diversity books, and this is one of the most directly applicable to teaching cultural awareness and competency in health care, that I have found currently available. The publishers of this resource, the Center for the Health Professions at UCSF, are a continuation of the original Pew Health Professions Commission.
The book is organized around nine major sections, each with multiple teaching-learning exercises. Each major section contains background information on the topic including relative theories or constructs. The exercises within the major sections each provide learning objectives, the connection to the section’s topic (i.e., purpose), steps and facilitator guidelines for implementing the exercise, any handouts, overheads or other exercise aids needed, and discussion tips. Each exercise follows an overall scheme of inform, experience, identify, reflect, and apply/discuss, and the given scenarios are applied to health care. An overall trainer orientation section is also included at the beginning of the book.
As discussion around the major topics can deal with sensitive and personal information, the opening exercise is one of establishing the group’s norms for behavior in such discussions. This sets a tone of inclusivity, candidness, and confidentiality for the entire course of exercises. The other major sections and associated learning exercises are described below.
Culture: Looking Within
- First Impressions
- Family Healing Traditions
- Personal Values and Beliefs
- Personal Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- The Culture of Medicine
Establishing a Common Language for Cultural Competency
- Defining Common Terms
- The Role of Culture in the Clinical Encounter
The Imperative for Cultural Competency
- The Changing Demographic Profile
- The Evidence for Health Disparities
- The Federal Response to Health Disparities
Culture: The Patient’s Perspective
- Disease and Illness: Understanding the Patient’s Experience
- Folk Illnesses and Culture-Bound Syndromes
- Folk Medicine and Traditional Healers
- The Difference Between Stereotypes and Generalizations
Communicating Across Cultural Differences
- Misunderstandings in Cross-Cultural Communication
- Communication Styles
- Culture and Communication in Clinical Interactions
Eliciting the Patient’s Experience of Illness
- What Do We Need to Know about Ourselves to Provide Culturally Competent Care?
- What Do We Need to Know about Patients to Provide Culturally Competent Care?
- Models to Elicit the Patient’s Illness Experience and Beliefs
- Applying Models to Elicit the Patient’s Illness Experience and Beliefs
- Our Patients’ Stories
The Role of the Medical Interpreter
- The Experience of an Interpreter
- Working with Medical Interpreters
Culture in the Workplace
- Cultural Differences and the Health Care Team
- Reaching Team Consensus Cross-Cultural Team Building
- Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution
- Resolving Conflict and Avoiding Collusion
The Culturally Competent Health Care Setting
- Components of Culturally Competent Organizations
- Assessing an Organization’s Cultural Competency
A summative discussion exercise is provided for students to assess their overall cultural competency growth from their experiences in the course. Specific key references for each major section are provided at the end for those who wish to do further reading on a topic.
This resource can be accessed in the SAHS Cultural Diversity Library in the third floor conference room, Belk 314. Please let Melinda Doty in 308 know if you wish to check-out this book.
If you're trying to enhance your classroom curriculum with diversity topics, make sure you consult the Internet! There are a variety of sources such as this featured one:
This is an annotated direction of 750+ websites featuring government, education, and business initiatives to foster diversity in a variety of settings. Below are a few examples of what you can find on their site:
The Antigonish Women's Resource Centre
The Antigonish Women's Resource Centre sponsors educational programs including workforce re-entry, workshops on issues related to health, self-esteem, and violence against women. The Resource Centre participates in research in areas vital to women like sexual harassment and poverty.
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE(r) Institute is for people who share a community - be it a school, workplace, neighborhood or campus. The program started in Boston in 1985 when the Anti-Defamation League and WCVB-TV joined together to fight prejudice. From the start, this remarkably effective way to promote diversity was embraced. It changed hearts and minds, and it quickly spread across the nation - and beyond.
The Affirmative Action and Diversity Project
The Affirmative Action and Diversity Project: A Web Page for Research This site presents diverse opinions regarding Affirmative Action topics; rather than taking a singular pro or con position, it is designed to help lend many different voices to the debates surrounding the issues of affirmative action. This site is an academic resource and it provides scholars, students, and the interested public with on-site articles and theoretical analyses, policy documents, current legislative updates, and an annotated bibliography of research and teaching materials.
African Studies WWW
This Web site is supported by the African Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Tukufu Zuberi, Director
Alianza
A Network of Professionals, Students and Organizations Alianza is an alliance in the Latino community formed to promote educational and professional development. We are creating a virtual ladder for students and professionals from all professions.
American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women is a national organization that promotes education and equity for all women and girls.
American Indian Studies
American Indian Studies
This world wide site is a developing site supervised by Professor Troy Johnson and is dedicated to the presentation of unique artwork, photographs, video and sound recordings which accurately reflect the history, culture and richness of the Native American experience in North America and has been expanded to include Indian people of Central America and Mexico.
The American Institute for Managing Diversity
AIMD is the Institute for Managing Diversity
of change in languages and He was widely consulted by the media during the 1997 Oakland Ebonics d
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