Experiential Learning and Cultural Competence: What Do Participants in Short-Term Experiences in Global Health Learn About Culture?

Abstract

Purpose

Short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs) have become a popular form of experiential learning in health professions education and provide an ideal setting to introduce the role of culture in health. Critics of the concept of cultural competence fear that learners will treat culture as a simplistic list of traits that denies the fluidity of culture and obscures other factors that contribute to health. To reduce disparities, they say, health professionals should approach culture in context. The purpose of this study was to explore how returning STEGH participants view the role of culture in health and apply it to subsequent clinical encounters.

Method

The authors convened focus groups of graduate students recently returned from three different STEGHs at a single health sciences institution. They used directed content analysis on the transcripts to identify student insights about how culture affected interactions with patients and clients in the host country and upon return to the United States.

Results

Focus group participants did not form strong impressions of the specific culture where they traveled. Two broad themes emerged about the role of culture in health and health care delivery: taking less resource-intensive approaches to treatment and recognizing the importance of culturally appropriate communication in health care delivery.

Discussion

Health professions students participating in these STEGHs did not demonstrate a view of culture as a static list of traits. Rather, their understanding of culture included an acknowledgement of structural conditions that affect the availability of resources and the need to avoid making assumptions about patients.