Cultural Communication

Resources: cross-cultural communication searches in this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings

Select a culture other than your own and research information about that group’s perceptions of health and health care.

Write a 300- to 350-word response to the following:

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Identify the principles of cross-cultural communication.

Explain how any cultural differences could become barriers affecting the communication process with health care providers.

Include at least two references.

Format your response consistent with APA guidelines.

When it comes to working together effectively on a task, cultures differ with respect to the importance placed on establishing relationships early on in the collaboration. A case in point, Asian and Hispanic cultures tend to attach more value to developing relationships at the beginning of a shared project and more emphasis on task completion toward the end as compared with European-Americans. European-Americans tend to focus immediately on the task at hand, and let relationships develop as they work on the task. This does not mean that people from any one of these cultural backgrounds are more or less committed to accomplishing the task, or value relationships more or less; it means they may pursue them differently.

The way a person understands and explains sickness is embedded and influenced by their beliefs, social values, philosophies and culture. If a healthcare provider does not know how a person perceives their problem, it will be much harder for them to understand their response to it.(3) Thus, it is important that physicians and healthcare providers understand that each individual patient comes from a distinct culture and that they may attribute their illnesses to a variety of causes. For example, many West African cultures attribute illness to causes that are unrecognized by western medicine such as ancestral influence, disruption of customs and social relationships, spirit possession, witchcraft and affliction by...