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
Cultural

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Around

Campus!!!

November

November 01Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor Paul Katz String Symposium

A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall8:00pm

November 03Faculty Recital: Jonathan Wacker, percussion

A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall8:00pm

November 05Native American Arts & Crafts night

1001 Bate Bldg.7:00 pm

November 06Native American Movie Night LWCC6:30 pm

November 07Native American Dance Workshop

Great Room 1 MSC6:00 pm

November 08Jazz at Night Series: Featuring Terell safford Quintet Hendrix Theatre TBA

November 08Native American Founder's Day Dinner Lonestar Steakhouse 7:00 pm

November 09Native American Mini Pow-WowMSC Brickyard12:00 - 5:00 pm

November 09Contra Dance (ECU Folk & Country Dancers) $3 Students, $5 FASG members, $7 General Public Willis Building Corner of Reade & 1st Streets 7:30 - 10:30 pm

November 11"The Development of African American English: A Discussion on Ebonics" Sponsors: Office of Intercultural Student Affairs and The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity,

244 MSC7:00 pm

November 12Writers Reading Series Program: Janet McAdams and Karenne Wood TBA TBA

November 13Minority Student Coalition: Faculty and Staff Forum MSC Great Room Multipurpose Rooms 7:30 - 9:30 pm

November 15Salsa Dance(ECU Folk & Country Dancers)Willis Building Corner of Reade & 1st Streets 7:30 - 10:30 pm

November 15SRAPAS: Olga Kern Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Wright Auditorium 8:00 pm

November 18Four Corners - USA Southwest Adventure Travel Adventure Film Hendrix Theatre4:00 pm & 7:30 pm

November 20Native American Trivia Night LWCC6:30 pm

November 24ECU Gospel Choir High School Conference MSC Great Rooms 8:00 - 5:00 pm

December

December 04Holiday Celebrations Around the World Brody Bldg. 12:00 - 2:00 pm

December 05Symphony Orchestra: Hisao Watanabe, director Wright Auditorium

December 06Omniance ModelingTBA9:00 pm

December 08Holiday Concert sponsored for the community by the Friends of the School of Music Wright Auditorium 3:00pm

December 12Multicultural Holiday Open House Sponsors: LWCC, Student Union Cultural Awareness Committee, Minority Student Coalition

LWCC5:00 - 7:00 pm

December 20

Salsa Dance (ECUFolk & Country Dancers) At the door: $5 Students, $7 General Public

Willis Building Corner of Reade & 1st Streets 7:30-10:30 pm and is the

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