Cultural Humility
Self-reflection and personal narrative are influential elements in the development of cultural humility which is a lifelong process of self-critique and self-reflection whereby an individual learns about other people’s cultures and examines their own beliefs and cultural identities deeply. Through this process, lifelong commitment to self-reflection through self-critique and self-evaluation serves a crucial part in the development of cultural humility in that it entails an individual willingness to accept that learning is an ongoing process that increases one’s humility, flexibility, and boldness to evaluate oneself critically and ignite the desire to learn (Yeager & Bauer-Wu, 2013). In the same manner, personal narrative is influential in the development of cultural humility in that it entails the desire to fix inherent power imbalances by recognizing that every person has their strengths and that they bring something unique to the table, an aspect that assists one to identify the value of every individual. As such, one must aspire to develop a relationship with other people by committing to self-reflection and the need to fix power imbalances inherent in personal narratives.
Although most people tend to assume cultural competency and cultural humility as one and the same thing, they are differentiated on the basis that competency entails acquiring factual knowledge and ongoing attitudes towards oneself and the clients while cultural humility is a construct focused on understanding and creating a process-oriented approach towards cultural competency (Waters & Asbill, 2013). Although these concepts entail an ongoing process of learning, cultural humility entails the aspects of self-critique, self-exploration, willingness to learn from other people, and acknowledgement of inherent differences in people and accepting them as they are. Cultural competency, on the other hand, is an ongoing process of learning the behavior, language, beliefs, and values of particular groups of people.
Learning about the client’s backgrounds in relation to their lifestyle, culture and preferences is essential in that it serves to provide an individual with skills, attitudes, and knowledge that supports caring for individuals from diverse cultures and languages. In order to improve service provision, I intend to apply the LEARN model in my practise to improve patient outcome and satisfaction as explained by HRSA (2004). When I meet with my clients I will “Listen” by providing the client with the opportunity to explain themselves with least interruption. At this stage, I will listen, develop empathy and understanding of the patient’s problem. Next, I will “Elicit” the client’s beliefs to understand their health behaviours and the reason for the visit. I will ask questions such as, “what do you think is the cause of your illness.” This is crucial in that the beliefs of people vary depending on their culture, an aspect that may influence their choice of medication. With this understanding, I will “Assess” potential problems that may have influenced their health behaviours by asking questions that encourage them to tell me more about themselves and their culture. For instance, the question, “I would like to know more about you,” can enable the client to provide information about their families, culture, and beliefs. Next, I will “Recommend” a solution or plan of action in a manner that the client understands and ascertain their understanding by asking questions such as, “would you like me to explain again.” Lastly, I will negotiate the recommended plan of action with the patient by asking about their opinion and what they think is the best course of action.
Systemic oppression often results when the laws or systems of a particular place create conditions that promote unequal treatment towards a specific group or identity group. For instance, the denial of equal rights to education or treatment opportunities for African-American owing to their status of poverty and unemployment is a form of systemic oppression. Populations can also get oppressed as a result of systemic factors such as institutional policies, government restrictions, and inequitable distribution of resources. In order to eliminate such factors and improve client outcome, it is essential to invest in the growth of diversity in the workforce, advance institutional accountability, and ensure equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. For instance, the privileged and the minority in society should be provided with equal treatment opportunities through government strategies to offer free treatment and counselling services. This will ensure that the underprivileged in society do not suffer from lost opportunities in education or employment as a result of poor health.
Conclusion
After watching the video on “The importance of cultural humility” by the UB School of Social Work (2016), I have understood the concept of cultural humility and cultural competency deeply. Although all the provided information is out of the ordinary, the statement that stood out for me is Doctor Kathleen Kost’ perspective on cultural humility. She says, “if we are going to be culturally competent with the people we provide service to or that we work without in the community, we have to be able to be silent to their stories.” She goes on to say, “there has to be that sense of what we do not know, maybe we don’t have all the answers and to me, that’s cultural humility” (UB School of Social Work (2016). This statement stood out for me because it is the simplest manner of explaining cultural humility and how best an individual can develop it through an ongoing process. This statement also reflects my own ideas in that as Kost states, when an individual visits a new place, they must be willing to assume that they do not know anything about that particular culture and ask questions in order to search for answers. I disagree with Razak’s explanation of cultural humility in his example of racism that one cannot force another person to learn what they are not willing. I disagree with his perception of cultural competence and humility in that it is rather superficial and does not touch on the actual concepts of competence and humility. Rather, Razak should have explained that failure to eliminate racism is often caused by the individual inability to learn and appreciate other people’s beliefs and values, which in itself is cultural humility and competence. With this understanding, I intend to approach my clients from a rather silent perspective in order to provide them with the room to explain themselves and enable deeper understanding of their conditions and problems. Understanding the patient through the application of “LEARN” model will improve client outcome and satisfaction owing to availability of information that will provide appropriate guidance in the provision of healthcare services.
References
HRSA (2004). Cultural competency in medical education A guidebook for schools. Retrieved from https://www.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/culturalcompetence/cultcomp.pdf
Lago, C. (2011). Diversity, oppression, and society: Implications for person-centered therapists. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 10(4), 235-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2011.626621
National Council on Aging (n.d.). Cultural humility.
UB School of Social Work. The importance of cultural humility [Online]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVmOXVIF8wc
Waters, A., & Asbill, L. (2013). Reflections on cultural humility. CYF News. Retrieved from American Psychological Association website: www. apa. org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2013/08/cultural-humility. aspx. https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/TeachingLearning/CSLearning/_pdfs/adc_csl_pdf_exculhumcap.pdf
Yeager, K. A., & Bauer-Wu, S. (2013). Cultural humility: Essential foundation for clinical researchers. Applied Nursing Research, 26(4), 251-256.