Abstract
Cultural competence is a phenomenon that straddles many disciplines and fields of study. There is no settled definition of the term, and it is argued that this is not necessary to explore or discuss the phenomenon as it is context-dependent across diverse societies. Explorations of cultural competence in clinical education and training are well-established, but there has been less attention towards its expression in the field of developing healthcare leaders. There is a debate about whether cultural competence is best achieved primarily through training-based educational inputs or by being infused in all areas of curriculum development. Using an exploration of selected literature followed by the case of an ambitious set of leadership development programmes in the English National Health Service, this paper explores the balance and interdependencies of cultural competence in healthcare leadership development as knowledge, skills and attitudes. The paper concludes that it is important for educators in this field to provide space for reflection, develop skills of reflexivity and facilitate sensitive discussions of sometimes contested ideas and concepts. A further evaluation of the impact of teaching and learning interventions, while mapping developments in perceptions of knowledge, skill and attitudes would be an area ripe for future research.
Highlights
As the societies of many developed nations become increasingly complex and diverse, the concept of cultural competence across a range of disciplines in social science attracts growing amounts of attention
The purpose of this paper is to develop a more informed and nuanced view of the application of cultural competence to leadership development curricula, recognising that, historically, the focus has been on leveraging cultural competence interventions to reduce health inequalities and improve access to services
The concept of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of cultural competence through the lens of multidisciplinary healthcare leadership development interventions
Summary
As the societies of many developed nations become increasingly complex and diverse, the concept of cultural competence across a range of disciplines in social science attracts growing amounts of attention. Health systems have long been challenged to address the needs of diverse and stratified societies, and cultural competence has tended to focus on the planning, commissioning and delivery of health services. This has often relied on post hoc interventions, sometimes designed to remedy an identified deficit, risk or shortcoming, at other times anticipatory or developmental. Cultural competence in the design and delivery of education and development, especially leadership development, is a relatively new concept, especially when this goes beyond traditional training. The concept of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of cultural competence through the lens of multidisciplinary healthcare leadership development interventions. We will examine cultural competence as a designed construct, that is, when it is part of the conceptual design rather than being added to an existing system, with a particular focus on the expression of cultural competence in educational and developmental models for healthcare professionals in the field of leadership development
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