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Points of Intersection: Facilitating Cultural Awareness of Self and Others in a Veterinary Medicine Communication Course
Chris'na Clarkson1; Mary Katherine O’Brien2 and Thorunn Bjarnado<r3 1Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences; 2Global Programs & Strategy Alliance and 3Interna'onal Student & Scholar Services
Culture may be a situational factor that influences a veterinarian’s professional effectiveness.
Cultural Competence
International student interviews: awareness of ‘other’ Countries of origin: Ghana, Brazil, Eritrea, Nepal, Egypt, Columbia, Spain, Argen;na and China Examples of insight from interview: - Ca=le play a different role than here; religious sacrifice, working animals, as a dowry, sta;s symbol (the more you have the wealthier you are). (Ghana)
- Some wealthy families (in Eritrea) do keep animals as pets, but the majority of people do not. … for holidays, families oKen slaughter their own animals by sliLng their throats.
- 80% of Nepal is Hindu so they don’t eat any beef or slaughter their cows. They have a conserva;on center that uses the old cows that die and feed them to an endangered vulture species. Nepalese do milk the cows and use oxen for labor.
- Some (veterinarians in Egypt) care for falcons for trained hunters; people may pay over $70,000 for their care. This is a popular sport in Egypt for people that have more money.
- What did we take out of this? In a nut shell: we took more out of this than we thought we would. We thought it would feel awkward and unnatural but instead it was a
very honest and easy conversa;on….We are s;ll discussing the differences between educa;on in China vs. educa;on in America. It’s so interes;ng! Chinese students seem to be a lot more studious than we are.
Journaling: awareness of ‘self’ and ‘other’ “ I become much more aware of the individuality each person has. I never really took the ;me to think about the values or cultural quali;es my own family has. I suppose I took them for granted and never took the ;me to appreciate or iden;fy them…. This ac;vity allowed me to learn things about my classmates I never would have known. Things like family cultures are not always easily apparent in general interac;ons but I think they are important and provide an opportunity to learn and experience life from other perspec;ves. My own culture will of course have an impact on how I will interact with clients, but it is important to recognize that each person has their own unique culture. I think culture will have varying impacts on interac;ons depending on the situa;on. But no ma=er what, I think our culture impacts the way we view the world and it’s important to remember that each person sees through a different lens”
Graduates (of veterinary medicine) interact with other students and increasingly with clients whose aLtudes, beliefs, values and behaviors differ from their own. An understanding and respect for these differences has an impact on client communica;on and health care outcomes… Language and sociocultural differences have the poten;al to affect communica;on and the ability to build rapport, trust, and confidence in the veterinarian-‐client rela;onship…. Mills et. al. 2001
References: BenneL, J.M. (2009). Cul'va'ng intercultural competence: a process perspec've. In DK Deardorff (Ed.) The Sage Handbook of Intercultural Competence (pp. 121-‐140). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publica'ons, Inc. Mills, J.N., Volet S., & Fozdar F. (2011). Cultural awareness in veterinary prac'ce: student percep'ons. Journal of Veterinary Medical Educa;on, 38(3), 288-‐297. .
Course objectives (In red are the objec/ves met through interna/onal component.)
- Review and reaffirm your current communica2on skill set. - Gain awareness of differences in communica2on styles. - Iden2fy specific communica2on challenges when dealing
with various special popula2ons (e.g., children, elderly pet owners and culturally diverse individuals), then apply your communica2on skills to real-‐life encounters with these popula2ons.
- Gain prac2ce in interviewing a client and performing a physical exam.
- Gain insight from interviewing individuals of varied cultural backgrounds.
- Build communica2on proficiency and confidence through simulated clinical encounters, video analysis and skill self-‐assessment.
- Gain experience and skill with peer assessment and feedback.
Communication styles “I am from…” activity Interviews (international students)
Journaling Surveys
Course Information Applied Communica'on (CVM 6013; Professional Development): a course offered to 2nd year veterinary students (4 year program). Following an earlier course in basic communica'on this course now allows the students opportuni'es to prac'ce communica'on.
Coordinator: Chris'na Clarkson, DVM, PhD (ITL Cohort, June 2012; ITL Fellowship 2013-‐14)
Strongly agree
Somew
hat a
gree
Somew
hat
disagree
Strongly disagree
* I make very few assump'ons about others. o o o o
* Veterinarians need to be aware of the different cultures that exist within their prac'ce. o o o o
* Immigrants should assimilate themselves into the culture of their new country. o o o o
** Different cultures can be successfully blended. o o o o
** Minority members of a popula'on should conform to the customs and values of the majority. o o o o
* Pre-‐ and Mid-‐ course survey ques'ons; ** Mid-‐course (only) survey ques'ons
Results - Students gained a deeper insight of their classmate’s cultural perspec've
afer the “I am from…” ac'vity. (small group and individual reflec'ons) - Students increased in their agreement with the following statement:
Veterinarians need to be aware of different cultures that exist within their prac'ce (survey data)
- Students gained culture specific informa'on/insight related to veterinary medicine, animal care…(interviews with interna'onals)
- Students were able to envision situa'ons where culture may impact their future role as a veterinarian. (individual reflec'ons)
Discussion Striving for cultural competence is a lifelong journey. One of the goals of this course was to provide students with opportuni'es to establish/build on their awareness of “self” and “other” so that they may strive for effec've communica'on in all situa'ons including encounters with diverse popula'ons of clients. Through their journaling it became obvious that the students didn’t take the 'me to consider culture (their own or others) un'l they were ‘made’ to reflect on their experiences related to the various ac'vi'es – highligh'ng the significance that reflec've journaling has on the development of understanding “others” and “self”.
Situational Factors: 100 students; predominantly white, middle-‐class; blended format of lecture, group work, and experiences (in and out of class); cultural/interna2onal emphasis added through ac2vi2es.
Goal: Cultural Awareness
Learning Ac'vi'es
Assessments
Surveys (examples of survey ques'ons related to culture)