1.0
AIM:
To
introduce students to some broad issues in cross cultural communication
2.0
ACTIVITIES/LEARNING OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Define and describe socio-cultural variation among patients:
age, gender, education, social class, and health-related behavior
2. Describe socio-cultural barriers to doctor patient
communication and how they can be mitigated
3. Conduct an interview with a person of a different
socio-cultural background and identify communication barriers
3.0 SESSION
AGENDA
· Culture
· Interviewer respect for other cultures
· Why doctors fear raising cross cultural issues
· Advice on cross cultural communication
· Cultural do’s
· Don’ts of cross cultural communication
· Common mistakes in language use
· Common mistakes in manner of speaking
· Common mistakes in body language
· Dealing with the family
4.0
CULTURE:
· Definition
· Relativity
· Underlying value systems and world view
· Different is not the same as wrong
· Non western cultures including the Islamic one are holistic
in outlook.
5.0
INTERVIEWER RESPECT FOR OTHER CULTURES
· Interviewer should be aware of his cultural values and avoid
imposing them on others.
· Interviewer should avoid a stereotyped conceptualization of
other’s cultural values it is better to ask rather than assume.
· Interviewer should respect cultural values of the
interviewee regarding disease definition, disease causation, and disease
treatment and should build further communication on this understanding.
· Interviewer should identify cultural values and practices
that can interfere with scientific medical treatment and try to find a midway
solution.
6.0
WHY DOCTORS FEAR RAISING CROSS CULTURAL ISSUES:
· Fear of being called racist or prejudiced
· Feeling inadequate or inexperienced
· Ignorance of the culture
· Fear of misunderstanding
· Fear of rejection
· Uncertainty about patient’s cultural background (lloyd and
Bor p 89)
7.0
ADVICE ON CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION:
· Be aware of your cultural values,
· Learn the cultural background,
· Learn which cultural differences affect treatment,
· Show patients you respect cultural differences,
· Build on what is common between you and the patient,
· Be open minded about unfamiliar cultural differences,
· Accommodate cultural ideas if they do not compromise
treatment,
· explain you are not an expert in cultures (lloyd and bor p.
89)
8.0
CULTURAL DO’S:
·
Use open questions,
·
Explore cultural differences only if
necessary,
·
Be honest about what is not clear to
you,
·
Show respect to cultural
differences. (lloyd and bor p.90)
9.0
DON’TS OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION:
· Pretend to understand cultures unclear to you,
· Being judgmental,
· Making assumptions
· Assuming cultural issues are unimportant (lloyd and bor
p.90)
10.0
COMMON MISTAKES IN LANGUAGE USE:
· Misunderstanding/misinterpretation of common terms and
phrases
· Technical vs common language,
· Formal vs colloquial language,
· Meanings of words determined by the local context,
· Words with different philosophical / conceptual origins and
implications.
· Distorted translations by the family of official
interpreters who say what they think the patient should have said.
11.0
COMMON MISTAKES IN MANNER OF SPEAKING:
· Speed of speaking vs speed of information processing:
variation by gender, social class
· A volley of questions with no time to digest and respond
· Interviewer and interviewee speaking at the same time.
12.0
COMMON MISTAKES IN BODY LANGUAGE / NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION:
· Eye contact,
· Touching
13.0
DEALING WITH THE FAMILY:
· who speaks and decides for the patient: individualistic vs
communalist approaches
REFERENCES
Managing
the cross cultural interview ‘advice on cross cultural communication with
patients’ in Lloyd M and Bor R (2nd edition) Communication Skills in
Medicine. Churchill Livingstone London 2004.
