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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