LEARNING CULTURAL SAFETY AND HUMILITY THROUGH AN INTER-PROFESSIONAL STUDY ABROAD STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN KENYA
Mentor 1
Peninnah M Kako
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
Background and Significance: In a globalized world, there is increasing need for professional students including nursing students to learn how to effectively work with persons of different cultures. In health care, there is increasing diversity in patient populations making the skill of cultural humility a necessity for culturally safe care. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to evaluate the role of a short term inter-professional study abroad program in facilitating beginning awareness of cultural humility among 21 students from health care fields who took part in a short-term study abroad experience in Kenya.
Methods: For this qualitative descriptive study, students taking part in a short-term study abroad focused on Community Health in Kenya were invited to take part. All 21 students agreed to participate. Prior to commencing the study approval was obtained from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee IRB and study was approved as exempt. Class assignments of three staged self-reflection summaries, community teaching project evaluations, teaching observation field notes, and end of class standard course evaluation comments were analyzed to discover how students applied concepts of cultural attunement to learn cultural humility while interacting with communities of a different culture in a culturally safe manner. Thematic content analysis was used for data analysis. Through an iterative process, researchers coded and validated themes emerging from the data.
Findings: From the students’ reflections, community teaching project self evaluations, and end of class comments, students narrations spoke to all the aspects of cultural attunement. Students acknowledged the pain of oppression, acted with reverence, reported coming from a place of "Not Knowing, Engaged in acts of humility, engaged in mutuality, and reported attaining harmony, cooperation, and accord during the study abroad experience. The findings suggest that short-term study abroad experience where students engage with the community can be a valuable tool for beginning stages of becoming culturally humble. Attaining cultural humility is critical in providing culturally safe health care for diverse populations stemming health care disparities
LEARNING CULTURAL SAFETY AND HUMILITY THROUGH AN INTER-PROFESSIONAL STUDY ABROAD STUDENT EXPERIENCE IN KENYA
Union Wisconsin Room
Background and Significance: In a globalized world, there is increasing need for professional students including nursing students to learn how to effectively work with persons of different cultures. In health care, there is increasing diversity in patient populations making the skill of cultural humility a necessity for culturally safe care. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to evaluate the role of a short term inter-professional study abroad program in facilitating beginning awareness of cultural humility among 21 students from health care fields who took part in a short-term study abroad experience in Kenya.
Methods: For this qualitative descriptive study, students taking part in a short-term study abroad focused on Community Health in Kenya were invited to take part. All 21 students agreed to participate. Prior to commencing the study approval was obtained from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee IRB and study was approved as exempt. Class assignments of three staged self-reflection summaries, community teaching project evaluations, teaching observation field notes, and end of class standard course evaluation comments were analyzed to discover how students applied concepts of cultural attunement to learn cultural humility while interacting with communities of a different culture in a culturally safe manner. Thematic content analysis was used for data analysis. Through an iterative process, researchers coded and validated themes emerging from the data.
Findings: From the students’ reflections, community teaching project self evaluations, and end of class comments, students narrations spoke to all the aspects of cultural attunement. Students acknowledged the pain of oppression, acted with reverence, reported coming from a place of "Not Knowing, Engaged in acts of humility, engaged in mutuality, and reported attaining harmony, cooperation, and accord during the study abroad experience. The findings suggest that short-term study abroad experience where students engage with the community can be a valuable tool for beginning stages of becoming culturally humble. Attaining cultural humility is critical in providing culturally safe health care for diverse populations stemming health care disparities
