Cultural Competency Exercise

Select items in each of the four columns below that best describe you and write them in a list. Place a check mark next to the items that are most important or significant to you at this time in your life. To better understand how culture influences decision making in a team, perform the four tasks below the table by answering the questions laid out with each one.

Choose terms from these lists to assess cultural heritage.

(Adapted from Grant et al., 1995.)

Assess your own cultural heritage.
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of being this kind of person in a health care team setting?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of being this kind of person in the majority community?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of being this kind of person in the minority community?

Understand your professional culture.
- How have your illness behaviors changed since entering training in the health professions?
- How have your wellness behaviors changed?
- How has your perception of the Western health care system changed since becoming a provider?
- What conflicts in health beliefs between your personal and professional cultures have you experienced?

Describe your personal health beliefs.
- What do you do when you have a cold?
- What special foods do you eat when you are sick?
- When do you feel the need to seek professional help for illness? Under what circumstances do you visit a health professional when you are well?
- What did your mother or father do for you when you were ill as a child?

Describe your experiences with other cultures.
- What experiences have you had in working with people from ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, religions, age groups, or communities different from your own?
- What were those experiences like? Give an example of a particularly difficult experience and a particularly rewarding experience from working with a patient from a very different background.