MEYER (1996) FIVE DIMENSIONS

MEYER (1996) FIVE DIMENSIONS
2000 words question is below: “Outline what you understand by each of Meyer’s (1996) five dimensions of cultural competence, giving examples to support your points; and either consider these challenges in a specific context of your choice, or use the contemporary example given above".
We gave the dimensions Meyer has signalled: Meyer (1996) describes five dimensions of cultural competence for providers of healthcare in diverse cultural settings: “Awareness of differences; communication obstacles; ethics; respect and trust”. Together with the following contemporary example: The recent challenges faced by international medical staff who are helping in Ebola-stricken countries supports this observation of Meyer. Please note that you are asked to write what YOU understand by Meyer’s (1996) five categories of cultural competence (Meyer CR. Medicine's melting pot. Minn Med 1996; 79(5) ), which are often used as general indicators of cultural competence and we are thinking about them in this more general way. At the end of this piece is a summary of what Meyer understood from a particular healthcare setting, as it may be difficult to obtain the original article. Your task is now to deepen these categories with your knowledge gained from the first 6 weeks of the module and associated reading thinking how they could be relevant more widely to different contexts where cultures meet and sometimes collide. You do not have to obtain or read the original article but just use the summary below as a guideline as we are carrying
it forward to fit with the context of the module. For example, the research on cultural differences by Hall, Hofstede, Trompenaars and Gannon, which we look at in the first few weeks, in parallel with an anthropological stance given by Bruce Parry, would allow you to expand on what sorts of awareness of differences people need to be conscious of when entering an intercultural situation. These include amongst others, different values around individualism/collectivism; power distance; achievement versus ascription, masculinity/femininity dimensions. We could relate these to the first of Meyer’s points. Hall’s research on different ways of communicating with high or low context cultures, and
different ideas of time and space would relate to differences in communication obstacles– Meyer’s second category, alongside issues to do with language and understanding. The second part of the assignment asks you to consider these dimensions in a particular given context. You could use a healthcare setting, such as the one faced by international medical staff working in Ebola-stricken countries, using any newspaper reports/analysis etc you can find. However, you could use other examples to explore the relevance of these dimensions. For example, they are particularly relevant when workers from ‘developed’ countries visit ‘developing’ countries, especially in relation to the final three of Meyer’s categories. We look in class in week 2 at an example of Bruce Parry and his series ‘The Tribe’ (using the Penan tribe from Borneo). You could also draw on any case studies from cross-cultural literature about companies expanding into different countries and difficulties they are facing or have faced related to any of the above dimensions from Meyer. You can either choose one specific context as an example to illustrate your understanding of Meyer's cultural competence dimensions, or choose examples/cases/current news from various reliable sources to do so. Try to avoid listing other explanations/definitions of cultural competence except briefly. On page 10 and 11 of the module guide you will find the
criteria we use to assess your assignment when marking and this indicates what you have to focus on to achieve specific grade bands. Below is an outline summarising Meyer’s ideas (please note that they have been placed in quotation marks as they are taken directly from a source and therefore excerpts you take must be referenced accordingly): “Meyer CR. (1996) describes four major challenges for providers and cultural competency in healthcare. The first is the straightforward challenge of recognizing …differences among people of different ethnic and (cultural) groups…….. The second, and far more complicated, challenge is communication. This deals with everything from the need for interpreters to nuances of words in various languages. .….. The third challenge is ethics. While Western medicine is among the best in the world, we do not have all the answers. Respect for the belief systems of others and the effects of those beliefs on well-being are critically important to competent care. The final challenge involves trust. For some patients, authority figures are immediately mistrusted, sometimes for good reason. …. As individuals, nurses and health care providers, we need to learn to ask questions sensitively and to show respect for
different cultural beliefs. Most important, we must listen to our patients carefully. The main source of problems in caring for patients from diverse cultural backgrounds is the lack of understanding and tolerance. Very often, neither the nurse nor the patient understands the other's perspective”. From: http://www.culturediversity.org/cultcomp.htm
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