Steps
The overlapping steps
in developing cultural competence go beyond
tasks like having clinicians and administrators
watch multicultural television, crib key no-no's for a culture or country from a tourism guide's
tips for
responsible travel,
or make a general effort to be culturally sensitive.
AWARENESS The first step in
becoming culturally competent is to develop
awareness: valuing population diversity,
acknowledging cultural norms, attitudes and beliefs;
owning personal prejudices, stereotypes and biases;
and recognising one's comfort zone and expertise in
a range of situations. Taking this first step enables us to extend ourselves physically
and mentally to
client populations, and to take the next step.
KNOWLEDGE The second step is to
acquire knowledge and understanding of other
cultures and of how those cultures perceive us, and
our culture, and our services. To do so we need to
know what 'us' means to others and who 'they'
are. To find out we can indeed watch television
channels like
SBS,
view foreign movies, travel, read about other
cultures, attend art exhibitions, cultural
ceremonies, festivals and events, enjoy new
cuisines, volunteer overseas (Bleile,
Ireland & Kiel, 2006) and share our experiences with others.
SKILLS The third is to acquire
cross-cultural skills through coursework, reading,
networking, mentoring, experience, informal 'exposure',
interaction and ongoing
self-monitoring of personal feelings
and reactions.
This is the fun part that can include new
friendships and professional working relationships
with people from different cultures, learning a new
language or dialect, understanding social mores, overcoming
degrees of xenophobia, and becoming more
accommodating and comfortable in cross-cultural
settings.
PRACTICE At a
practical level, in the context of effective health
care and education, we can then work dynamically
with clients in assessing what works and what does
not, negotiate between client groups' beliefs and
practices and our own profession's culture, and
evaluate our performance, materials, interventions, programs and service
delivery.
