Five Cross Cultural Capabilities for Clinical Staff
Read this guidebook Australia's Queensland Health wrote to prevent their health professionals from making bad assumptions or decisions regarding their patients and co-workers.
The caregivers advise, "Before you begin to have insight into diverse communities, individuals and groups, you need to understand and know your own culture and identity, whether this is your personal ethnic, spiritual or cultural heritage or your professional or organisational [sic] affiliations. Evidence has shown that our attitudes, whether we are conscious of them or not, have a direct and significant impact on the people around us."
This manual states, "It is impossible to know all the rules that might exist across different cultural groups. However, it is possible to approach your work with the understanding that different and complex cultural conventions exist and to seek out these conventions to improve understanding, adapt to whatever cultural codes you encounter, and avoid incorrectly attributing negative characteristics to a particular group or person."
Five cross-cultural capabilities: for clinical staff
1. Self-reflection
You should be able to:
- consider what your own
culture is and how you
feel about different
cultural beliefs and
values
- demonstrate a sound understanding of 'culture'
- conduct a cultural self-
assessment to identify
your own culture, and
position your cultural
beliefs against that of
the health system
- conduct an assessment
of the organisational
and professional
cultures to which you
belong
- identify and address
personal and
organisational biases.
2. Cultural understanding
You should be able to:
- gain a better understanding of 'culture', and potential cultural differences
- recognise power relations that are produced in the health system, and exhibit sensitivity to the impact of power differentials on culturally and diverse consumers
- conduct a cultural assessment to determine and accommodate different needs
- elicit different explanatory models and respond appropriately
- understand different consumer behaviours may be influenced by culture
- employ self-reflection to explore differences and similarities across cultures.
3. Context
You should be able to:
- consider a range of
social factors that may
impact on consumer
behaviour
- understand the impact
of migration and exile
on individuals
- consider the interplay
of other individual
factors such as gender,
sexuality, age and
socioeconomic contexts
on identity
- understand that
individuals may not
identify with their own
culture, and many
individuals within
Australia consider
themselves 'bi-cultural'
- appreciate that individuals may have more than one identity and identity is subject to change
- avoid cultural determinism and identify individual need
4. Communication
You should be able to:
- be sensitive and
responsive to varying
cultural norms in
relation to verbal and
non-verbal
communication
- communicate effectively across cultures
- be sensitive to, and
overcome, potential
barriers to effective
cross cultural
communication
- deliver information in culturally appropriate and targeted ways
- avoid making
assumptions or
judgements about
individuals based on
their communication
style.
5. Collaboration
You should be able to:
- gain trust and build
relationships with
individuals across
cultures
- work towards consensus with individuals and families from diverse backgrounds understand the importance of, and able to involve culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) clients in, decision-making processes
- conduct community
consultation and
engagement
- work across disciplines
to provide appropriate
care
- skilled at facilitating
linkages including
development of referral
pathways
- skilled at establishing formal and informal collaborative networks
- value and facilitate the exchange of information across disciplinary boundaries.
Source: Queensland Health, https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/382696/ccc-clinical.pdf
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