The Added Benefits Of Cultural Awareness Training Essay

In our reading, Cross Culture, The Lewis Model by Richard D. Lewis, the case for categorization is made as it enables one to: “predict a cultures behavior, clarify why people did what they did, avoid giving offence, search for some kind of unity, to standardize policies, and to perceive neatness and order”. Leaders must develop themselves and their subordinates to become culturally sensitive and aware. United States military personnel are ambassadors and representatives of the American people and are often tasked with carrying out our National policies. Our frontline interaction with cultures enable us the unique opportunity to forge, develop or damage relationships with other cultures. These interactions can have positive or negative repercussions.

Relocating into a senior care facilities can be a frightening experience for the aging population. Getting familiar with new surroundings, new organization structure, and new people that can cause anxiety to rise. For a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer individual, this experience can be traumatic. The fear of harassment, hostility, and neglect by healthcare providers and caretakers can keep LGBTQ people from seeking care until their health begins to critically decline. LGBTQ cultural competency training is highly recommended for healthcare professionals and social service organizations. The greatest barrier that prevents quality health care for LGBTQ people is the lack of competence among the healthcare professionals.

In healthcare industry cultural competence is an important component and it is not an isolated aspect of medical care as it improves patients’ clinical outcomes. Cultural competence is express as a dynamic, complex and it involves skill that healthcare providers need to develop in order to respond to their individual diverse cultural patients’ (Brenda, 2016). Cultural competency is defined as creating consciousness of an individual’s life; feeling and thoughts without allowing it to have an unwanted control or power by demonstrating knowledge on the patients cultural and respecting their differences. Another definition had been stated that cultural competence is how the healthcare providers advocate effectively and deliver required needs for their diverse cultural patients (Weber, 2003). Cultural competency is a concept that had been used widely in nursing profession.

Cultural competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.

Human Services is a profession that experiences an elevated degree of varied cultures. Therefore, cultural competency is significant for human service professionals. Cultural competence illustrates a set of skills, values and principles that recognizes value and work towards the most favorable interactions involving the individual and the various cultural professionals work with (“Understanding Cultural Competency,” 2015). In the reading of this paper, I will enhance the knowledge of culture in human services focusing on Culture Competency: Intergenerational Welfare Dependency. I will also clarify how culture and the article selected are relevant to the program or area of practice that I identify with.

From the self-assessment survey for quality and culture I took, I would like to improve and understand how cultural competence can have a real impact on clinical outcomes. There are a few questions I was surprised that I answered them incorrectly. Now I do understand that what I learned in this culturally competence class will help me become more efficient in cultural competence, to provide quality care to all my patients regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnic, but it will take consistent individual practice, patience, and training on my part to develop and maintain that. I have learned that being culturally competent and implementing sound cultural competency techniques, will help to increase health access and reduce health disparities among different racial and ethnic groups. Cultural competence can lead to, health literacy, health equity, and fewer diagnostic errors, which might help the patient expand their choices and access high quality medical providers because the patient is no longer restricted to a small pool of clinicians who share their culture.

It is important to first define cultural competency, as the ability for health professionals to work in situations where their personal culture may not be identical to that of the patient they are interacting with (Blackburn, 2015). Unfortunately, there is no definitive definition utilized across professions (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2011). This can make it difficult to pursue in both teaching it and evaluating it. In fact, this study will only touch on one method of evaluating cultural competence with three subscores: awareness, organization, and skills (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2011). This is not the only way to interpret and evaluate the particular realm of competence however, as there was yet another method of evaluation using five subsets: awareness/sensitivity, behaviors, patient-centered communication, practice orientation, and self-assessment (Schwarze, Witte, Sellers, Luzadis, Weiner, Domingo-Snyder, & Page Jr., 2015). This poses a solution to the lack of cultural competency and awareness; however the discord between methods of evaluation can also pose a problem with consistency.

Cultural competence is a vital component of the American health care system. Health care providers must identify, respect, and incorporate clients’ cultural, religious, and ethnic beliefs into practice to alleviate health disparities and improve patient satisfaction. Pregnancy and childbirth is a time of anticipation in all cultures worldwide. This joyous event has a comprehensive history of traditions and beliefs that vary from cultural perspectives. Women of Chinese, Iranian, and Mexican descent have differing views from Western cultural “norms”.

I have scored well on both assessments which consider me to be a particularly cultural sensitive person. The cultural awareness assessment which I scored lower on was due to inexperience for some of the questions that were asked. Question one, for example, asked, "I listen to people from other cultures when they tell me how my culture affects them is one experience I have yet to encounter. I have always considered a person culture and briefs are fascinating in every fashion. Growing up in a very diverse environment allowed me the opportunity to interact with people of many different cultures, religions, beliefs, and practices. My personal experiences dealing with those of different culture different from my own does not equate to providing

The Army has a vital role to perform in service to this nation. And Army leaders at all levels take this role of defending our nation against all enemies foreign and domestic very seriously. In order to carry out its role effectively and consistently, the Army has become an institution of learning and change. The institutional learning begins for each soldier with an initial indoctrination training session known as basic training. This training consists of a total emersion environment wherein; role modeling, classroom lectures and practical exercise teach and instill Army Core Values, and the many Army organizational norms, as well as the many common core skills required of every soldier serving in the

How can education be a solution to increase cultural competency? It is beneficial to establish cultural competency skills in students to prepare them for future work in the health sector especially as there continues to be growth in the minority population. Cultural competencies must be meaningfully incorporated into the curriculum to show student for how important it is for their community to be able to help people of different ethnic backgrounds (Knox and Haupt, 2015). Cultural competency can be incorporated into education by having students learn through definitions, discussions, and training modules. Students in a dynamic process incorporate experiences such as internships, study abroad, and experiential learning to get a true

Given the proliferation of missions that often have multiple objectives aligned to counterterrorism, humanitarian aid, and national defense, the alacrity at which the armed forces are expected to integrate and quickly deliver results in a foreign nation is increasing. The cross-cultural competency (3C) model is designed as a foundation for streamlining the cultural assimilation process, providing leaders and subordinates with a more efficient approach to quickly understanding and become effective in a culture different than one's own (Abbe, Gulick, Herman, 2007). As the alacrity and intensity of cultural assimilation is increasing across all branches of the military, combined with greater levels of mission complexity and required collaboration of foreign governments and agencies, developing a effective 3C model is essential for mission success. The intent of this analysis is to provide insights into how leaders can manage diversity more effectively in the military, especially those called upon to serve in cultures significantly different than one's own. Training in cross-cultural competency often includes references to the Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions and the specific attributes of collectivism versus individuality, two potentially polarizing aspects of military leadership in foreign regions (Goodman, 2012). The Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions is complimentary ot the 3C Model in that is

Military culture might best be described as the sum of the intellectual, professional, and traditional values of an officer corps; it plays a central role in how the officer corps assesses the external environment and how it analyzes the possible response that it might make to the threat. During the interwar period, militaries are recovering from the brutal effects of WWI in all of their ranks, however since innovation starts at the senior ranks, their willingness to innovate depends on senior leaders ability to accept change into their organization based on lessons they learned from the

It would be in order to first examine the connotation and exact meaning of culture. Sociologists differ wide in their perceptions in explanting culture and its inter-related concepts. The best definition from the military view point is given by Leslie A. White, who quotes famous sociologists Frank Boas and Melville J. Herskovits. He writes “culture may be defined (as per Boas), as the totality of the mental and physical reactions and activities that characterise the behaviour of individuals composing a social group….”. He further quotes Herskovits and says, “When culture is closely analysed, we find but a series of patterned reactions that characterise the behaviour of the individuals who constitute a given group. Another writer Sapir quoted by Leslie white classified culture as the mass of typical reactions.’ Culture is best summarised as a way of life of the people. It is manmade part of environment. Cultures includes beliefs, ideas, religion, art, customs and other habits which the people acquire while living in a society. Another very important aspect of culture is that it is ever changing by learning and transmitting from one generation to other through a

In order for military personnel to operate optimally in foreign nations, it is important to comprehend and understand the culture and capabilities of that country. The Army gives leaders the essential topics to understand which are; political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, information, physical environment, and time (PMESIIPT-T). This is intended to give leaders practical information to use when conducting operations in France, as well as building a framework for researching what they will need to know for other countries as well.