Difficulties in applying a person-centred approach in the meetings between staff and patient can arise. Differences in culture and language can make the interaction complex and lead to misunderstandings, where the interventions are at risk of not being culturally relevant for the individual. Developing cultural competence for professionals can be one approach to deal with and overcome these difficulties.
Cultural competence requires healthcare professionals to be aware of the culture’s effects the individual's perceptions and behaviors and staff need to adapt their strategies to work effectively with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Based on studies focusing on the development of the Swedish version of Cultural competence Assessment Instrument (CCAI-S), utility has been investigated, and psychometric tests have been carried out which have generated a clinical sound instrument that can support professional's development of cultural competence.
CCAI-S aims for professionals in different contexts in healthcare who meet patients with various cultural backgrounds to be able to get an idea of their own cultural competence. The instrument contains the components Openness and Awareness, Interaction Skills and Organizational Support based on 13 items. Through these items, the staff is given the opportunity to increase their awareness of their own cultural competence in relation to patients / clients with various cultural backgrounds. CCAI-S can also be used as a basis for educational efforts. This can promote to becoming more person-centred and thereby affect evidence, which can contribute to the development and efficiency of the organization.
CCAI-S is translated and cultural adapted by Jane Holstein, Gunilla Liedberg and Anette Kjellberg at the Unit for Occupational Therapy, Linköping University. The original instrument is called the Cultural Competence Assessment Instrument (CCAI-UIC) and is developed at the Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA by Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Balcazar, F., Taylor-Ritzler, T., Portillo, N., Rodakowski, J., Garcia-Ramirez, M., & Willis.
To develop cultural competence among healthcare professionals, access to a psychometrically tested instrument alone is not sufficient—research-based education is also necessary. Through a co-design methodology, an educational programme for interprofessional teams in Sweden has been developed in collaboration with professional, patients, and researchers. The educational programme is called “Practicing Cultural Competence in Healthcare.” It consists of four course modules: 1) Cultural Knowledge, 2) Cultural Reasoning, 3) Cultural Interaction, and 4) Cultural Context. Each module includes course objectives, content, and learning activities, and can be delivered both digitally and in person.
Read more in Jane Holstein’s electronically published dissertation Learning Cultural Competence – Self Assessment and Education.
