Nisha Dogra is a senior lecturer and an honorary consultant in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Greenwood Institute of Child Health (University of Leicester, Westcotes House, Westcotes Drive, Leicester LE3 0QU, UK. Tel: 0116 225 2880; fax: 0116 225 2881; e-mail: nd13{at}leicester.ac.uk). She has been involved in developing and delivering training in cultural diversity, and has conducted research on teaching about diversity and evaluating training. Khalid Karim is a lecturer and honorary specialist registrar in child and adolescent psychiatry, also at the Greenwood Institute of Child Health. He shares Dr Dogras interest in this area, providing a clinically based perspective.
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The concept of identity is closely related to the idea of culture. Identities can be formed through the cultures and subcultures to which people belong or in which they participate. Frosh (1999: p. 413) described the view that identity draws from culture but is not simply formed by it. Given that the focus of our article is cultural diversity in the context of delivering psychiatric services, the definition of culture that we use is consistent with that adopted by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC):
Culture is defined by each person in relationship to the group or groups with whom he or she identifies. An individuals cultural identity may be based on heritage as well as individual circumstances and personal choice. Cultural identity may be affected by such factors as race, ethnicity, age, language, country of origin, acculturation, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic status, religious/spiritual beliefs, physical abilities, occupation, among others. These factors may impact behaviours such as communication styles, diet preferences, health beliefs, family roles, lifestyle, rituals and decision-making processes. All of these beliefs and practices, in turn can influence how patients and heath care professionals perceive health and illness and how they interact with one another (Task Force on Spirituality, Cultural Issues, and End of Life Care, 1999: p. 25).
This is a patient-centred definition that can be applied to clinical situations. It suggests that individuals draw on a range of resources and, through the interplay of external and internal meanings, construct a sense of identity and unique culture. Patients will themselves define which aspect of their cultural belonging is relevant at any particular time. This may change in different clinical contexts and at different stages of an individuals life, and may also depend on the clinical presentation itself. This is not to underplay the complexity of the term, but to use it in a way that it is suitable in the context of healthcare delivery. The academic debate about the meaning of culture is less relevant here than the interplay between culture and identity, which involves the individuals perception. The latter is more relevant in clinical contexts.
Diversity
Although various definitions of culture are offered, less has been written about diversity. One might think that diversity should be a more straightforward term. However, again the word is used imprecisely. In some cases, it means diversity of ethnicity, which is often called multiculturalism (e.g. Culhane-Pera et al, 1997; Loudon et al, 2001). There is also a perspective that diversity covers the range of groups within society and thus includes groups identified by characteristics other than ethnicity, such as sexual orientation. In other cases, it covers a much broader range of difference, relating to individual characteristics beyond ethnicity. Policies relating to equality within institutions suggest that diversity and acceptance refer to the diversity of individuals (Gallant 2000 Ltd, 2003).
In this article, diversity includes not only race, ethnicity and gender but also ability/disability, education, class and many other differences.
Cultural competence
In the North American medical system, many educational programmes have endeavoured to teach cultural competence as a way of understanding culture. A widely used definition of this states:
The model called "cultural competence" ... involves systems, agencies and practitioners with the capacity to respond to the unique needs of populations whose cultures are different than that which might be called "dominant" or "mainstream" American. The word culture is used because it implies the integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group. The word competence is used because it implies having the capacity to function in a particular way: the capacity to function within the context of culturally integrated patterns of human behaviour as defined by the group. While this publication focuses on ethnic minorities of colour, the terminology and thinking behind this model applies to each person everyone has or is part of a culture (Cross et al, 1989: p. 3).
Although this definition does not emphasise working towards services that are sensitive to an individual patients needs, it does highlight the needs of groups, which may or may not be as homogeneous as is implied.
Cultural competence is a widely used term and it has many other meanings (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003).
Race and ethnicity
There is similar inconsistency in definitions of race and ethnicity (Bradby, 2003). For example, in the USA race is still perceived more as a biological characteristic, whereas in the UK there is greater acceptance that it is a social construct (Dogra & Karnik, 2004).
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Levinson et al (1997) offered several reasons to justify the teaching of cultural diversity to medical students. They argued that dealing effectively with diversity should improve doctorpatient communication. This can be generalised to postgraduate contexts: if diversity training does make a difference to healthcare outcomes, training should be undertaken throughout a doctors career. Evidence shows that good communication skills diminish the risk of malpractice: the doctor is better able to identify the patients problems, which reduces misdiagnoses and misunderstandings. Appreciation of cultural diversity should also increase patients adherence to treatment regimens and improve outcomes, including patient satisfaction.
DiversityRx is an American clearing house of information on ways to meet the language and cultural needs of minorities, immigrants, refugees and other diverse populations seeking healthcare. In an overview of cultural competence in medical training and practice, they reported that lack of awareness about cultural differences makes it difficult for both providers and patients to achieve the best, most appropriate care. Figure 1
shows some of the problems that may arise where clinicians are culturally incompetent or unaware (DiversityRx, 2001a).
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Fig. 1 Possible repercussions of healthcare providers lack of awareness of cultural differences (DiversityRx, 2001a).
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Tirado & Thom found no statistically significant impact of training on physicians cultural competence, on healthcare processes or outcomes of care (M. Tirado, personal communication, 2004). However, they did find that culturally competent physicians had a positive impact on the care of patients with hypertension and/or diabetes.
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First moves towards a national training programme were published in Inside Outside (National Institute for Mental Health in England, 2003: p. 31), which advocated mandatory training in cultural competencies for all professional staff working in mental health. In the same year, an inquiry into the death of a Black man, David Rocky Bennett, in a psychiatric hospital (Department of Health, 2003) recommended that training the 40 000-strong existing mental health workforce in cultural competence should become a priority. In 2004, the NIMHE and the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health published a document laying down the most important areas in which all staff in mental health services should be trained (the ten essential shared capabilities; Hope, 2004). One of these is respecting diversity, which is decribed as :
working in partnership with service users, carers, families and colleagues to provide care and interventions that not only make a positive difference but also do so in ways that respect and value diversity including age, race, culture, disability, gender, spirituality and sexuality (Hope, 2004: p. 3).
Hope makes specific mention of the discrimination known to exist in many services, pointing out that issues of race and culture require particular attention. Among other things, respect for diversity requires practitioners to understand and acknowledge diversity and to understand the impact of discrimination and prejudice on mental health and mental health services (Hope, 2004: p. 14). Although these are commendable recommendations and evidence-based practice is touched upon, little more is said on the value of such education.
With a clarity often lacking in other documents, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2002) reviewed the relationship between mental health services and African and Caribbean communities. In a discussion of the usage of terms and their potential impact on training, the review pointed to the effect of the confusion that exists in healthcare arenas regarding cultural diversity, in particular definitions that rely on group-based distinctions. It noted that political rather than educational agendas have often influenced educational programmes. The centrality of issues of race and culture for mental health services should not be underestimated but nor should they be used to reinforce stereotypical views about minority ethnic communities. In some circumstances, the report noted, it is evident that the term culture is used in a similar way to race, to denote immutable and fixed physical attributes and/or behaviours. Elsewhere, the term seems to denote a set of shared beliefs or a system of kinship. In the context of mental health this approach is problematic, as an individuals culture needs to be understood for that individual, rather than extrapolated from given generalities. The review felt that this is particularly important, as many cultural awareness courses define or predict the characteristics of certain ethnic groups, along with standard responses by professional workers, by means of overarching generalisations.
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Some study results
Webb & Sergison (2003) reported that child healthcare professionals found their race awareness training useful. In a follow-up study, staff commented on how they thought their own behaviour had changed. For example, some used more culturally appropriate pictures in wards and stopped using minors as interpreters. However, there were no objective measures of change.
A systematic review of five interventions to improve cultural competence in healthcare systems that included cultural competency training for healthcare providers was undertaken by Anderson et al(2003). They judged that only one study had a fair quality of execution and therefore concluded that the evidence was insufficient.
The findings of Tirado & Thom (M. Tirado, personal communication, 2004) suggest that cultural competency is important in healthcare but as yet we have not clarified how physicians can be effectively trained to become culturally competent and how policy relating to this issue can best be framed for medical organisations.
Political correctness
In a report mentioned earlier, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2002) commented on staff concerns that issues of race and culture cannot be freely discussed, implicitly blaming political correctness. The report acknowledges that attempts to address racism and sexism have at times focused on the ridiculous. Political correctness can also be viewed as a tool used by the American political right to discredit the whole process of tackling disparities. Any initiative against racism or sexism is likely to be met with the charge of political correctness by those opposed to changes, and it is necessary to achieve a rational balance between outlandish prohibitions on behaviour or language (e.g. black coffee) and reasonable criticism of racism.
The findings of the Sainsbury Centres report have been borne out in our own discussions with colleagues about their training experiences. Training is often enforced so that organisations can claim they are complying with legislation, but there is a feeling that there is little commitment to actually changing practice or systems.
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How patients are viewed
First, we need to ask whether information about specific groups is helpful or not. Kelly (2003) highlighted studies that have shown higher prevalence of particular disorders in particular groups, but there is no evidence to show that having such information influences healthcare outcomes for better or worse. Indeed, the information may do more to reinforce stereotypes than challenge practitioners to question their own biases in decision-making processes. While public healthcare may be about services to groups of the population, clinical care is about service provision to individuals. We must consider how we tailor public services to individuals needs. This seems to be a fundamental and yet unresolved issue.
If we consider diversity among patients and use the Association of American Medical Colleges definition (Task Force on Spirituality, Cultural Issues, and End of Life Care, 1999), the focus is on individuals not groups. Ethnicity is only one component of how someone might choose to define him- or herself. We need to consider for whose benefit we provide general information about groups with which patients may or may not identify themselves. Individuals should be able to choose how they define themselves, rather than have services define them on the basis of their skin colour or any other characteristic. Publications such as Addressing Black and Minority Ethnic Health in London (Department of Health, 1999) imply that the needs of individuals are primarily based on their skin colour. In general, Black people and people from minority ethnic groups are treated as a single homogeneous population. This approach makes assumptions that the experiences of all such individuals are the same and that their skin colour overrides other facets of their individuality. Talking about groups of people reduces patients to lists by which their needs are decided, as opposed to asking them as individuals what their views are. Managing diverse patients should mean trying to improve access and services for all potential users, not just for those from specific groups. It should also be recognised that equitable care does not mean the same care, as individual needs will be different.
Educational models for teaching cultural diversity
There is criticism that education and training in cultural diversity have largely been driven by government policy and not educational needs or an evidence base (Dogra, 2004b). Nevertheless, the concept of cultural competence discussed earlier has provided an important background to developments in the UK. It might be argued that there are two different models for teaching cultural competence. One is based on a notion of expertise and the other on a notion of sensibility (Dogra, 2004a).
Cultural expertise
An expert may be described as having special skill at a task or knowledge in a subject, so that expertise is the skill or knowledge that the expert possesses (Thompson, 1995). The notion that, through gaining knowledge about other cultures, someone can develop cultural expertise has given rise to educational programmes trying to impart cultural competence, to create cultural experts.
Cultural sensibility
Cultural sensibility should not be confused with the more common term cultural sensitivity. In general usage, sensibility (openness to emotional impressions, susceptibility and sensitiveness; Thompson, 1995) relates to a persons moral, emotional or aesthetic ideas or standards. Thus, cultural sensibility is interactional: if one is open to outside experience, one might reflect and change because of that experience. This is not necessarily the case with cultural sensitivity, which is more the quality or degree of being aware of cultural issues and is closer in meaning to cultural expertise. In cultural sensibility, there is no notion of acquiring expertise about others; rather, there is a recognition that we need to be aware of our own perspectives and how they affect our ability to view the perspectives of others with an open mind.
Table 1
shows how the two models view culture and some aspects of the educational process involved in a teaching model based on a notion of cultural sensibility (Dogra, 2004a).
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View this table: [in a new window] | Table 1 Conceptions of culture and the educational process (Dogra, 2004a) |
Service models
Service models influence the training that is delivered and help to establish who is held responsible for delivering equitable services to all. Some organisations delegate this responsibility to a named individual such as a diversity officer, which appears to absolve everyone else of the need to feel responsible. Legally in the UK it is everyones responsibility.
In response to a debate about specific services for minority ethnic groups (Bhui & Sashidharan, 2003), Whitley et al(2004) raised the issue that the diversity of Canadian society is not captured by the broad ethno-racial categories commonly used in the UK and USA; thus, specialised clinics for each minority group are not feasible in Canada. Provision of ethnic-specific services in that country is not pursued for practical rather than philosophical reasons.
Robertson et al(2000) found that most of the Black services users they interviewed in a UK study did not want an ethnically specific service, but one that all users could access and benefit from. In another UK study, Secker & Harding (2002) reported that service users valued the ability of staff to engage with them and see the world from their perspective and that this was not dependent on ethnic matching.
Bhui (2004) has suggested that the integrationist solution has failed to ensure that generic mental health services are culturally capable or appropriate. However, until there is greater debate about this, training will flounder as there is no consensus on what it is trying to achieve. There is also a danger in assuming that individuals who share the same ethnicity have the same views on issues relating to mental health.
Policies regarding training in cultural diversity
As already mentioned, there is strong evidence that political imperatives rather than educational need or purpose have driven diversity training thus far (Dogra, 2004b).
It is now essential that policy has an educational priority and that training programmes are developed on a sound evidence base, undergo effective evaluation and have clearly measurable outcomes. (A current educational fashion is reflective learning, but there is often little thought given to how this might be measured.) Some of the issues relating to policies regarding diversity training are highlighted in Box 1
.
Box 1 Policies relating to diversity training
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Educational bodies may need to take the lead in directing policies in the healthcare sector.
In 2001 the Royal College of Psychiatrists held a 2-day workshop to discuss the training required to produce culturally capable psychiatrists. An article arising from this workshop, describing the knowledge skills and attitudes of a well-trained and culturally competent psychiatrist, has been published by Parimala Moodley, then chair of the Colleges Transcultural Special Interest Group (Moodley, 2002). Transcultural psychiatry is now included in the revised curriculum for basic specialist training and the MRCPsych examination (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2001: p. 71).
The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health is attempting to establish an evidence base for diversity training, and it is to be hoped that this will inform future policy. There is also a need to direct teaching away from a superficial checklist approach to medical training and to ensure that it delivers healthcare professionals who are able to meet the needs of individual patients and their families. Policies might also be more explicit in indicating that the concept of equality applies to everyone and not just to certain minority groups. This does not, of course, minimise the need to address the issue of racial equality, which has already been highlighted as a priority.
How can practitioners make a difference?
There is no doubt that organisations need to take responsibility for ensuring they put systems in place that urgently address diversity. However, individual practitioners need to take personal responsibility for their delivery of care. Box 2
highlights some questions that practitioners might ask themselves in order to reflect on their practice. We are not suggesting that current practitioners are not thinking about their patients; rather we are reminding everyone that external pressures and our own vulnerabilities affect the care we deliver.
Box 2 Reflecting on your practice
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It is now time to implement and evaluate different educational approaches, so that cultural diversity teaching develops rigour and an evidence base. Unless this is done, it will continue to be a path laid with good intentions but one that ultimately fails to educate healthcare providers to meet patients individual needs irrespective of their background or sense of identity.
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View this table: [in a new window] | MCQ answers |
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