Abstract

An interdisciplinary faculty development workshop on cultural competency (CC) was implemented and evaluated for the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. It consisted of a 4-hour workshop and 2 follow-up sessions. A reflective practice framework was used. The project was evaluated using the Multicultural Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ), evaluation forms completed by participants, and detailed field notes taken during the sessions. The workshop was attended by 49 faculty members with diverse professional backgrounds. Statistically significant improvements were measured using the MAQ. On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 = very useful) on the evaluation form, the majority of participants (76.1%) gave the workshop a score of 4 or 5 for overall usefulness. A thematic analysis of field-note data highlighted participant responses to specific activities in the workshop. Participants expressed a need for faculty development initiatives on CC such as this one.

Highlights

  • Cultural diversity is growing in many industrialized countries

  • CC training programs have been linked to improved outcomes.These include improvements in health-care professionals (HCPs)–patient communication (Committee on Pediatric Workforce, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999; KagawaSinger & Kassim-Lakha, 2003); HCPs who are better prepared to work with patients of different cultural backgrounds (Kagawa-Singer & KassimLakha, 2003); reductions in health disparities (Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding, & Normand, 2003; Kumagai & Lypson, 2009; Razack et al, 2011); and improvements in health outcomes, such as better adherence to treatment (Schilder et al, 2001), improved pain management (Narayan, 2010), and better disease control (D’Eramo-Melkus et al, 2004; Metghalchi et al, 2008)

  • In our own work we have found that HCPs feel unprepared to teach CC to medical trainees and desire faculty development training in this area (Macdonald et al, 2007)

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Summary

Introduction

Cultural diversity is growing in many industrialized countries. For example, the 2011 Canadian National Household Survey revealed that 46% of the Toronto population and 40% of the Vancouver population were born outside Canada; Canada’s foreign-born population represented 20.6% of the total population, the highest proportion among the G8 countries (Statistics Canada, 2011). Research demonstrates that culturally competent health care improves health outcomes and reduces disparities (Flores, 2005; Kumagai & Lypson, 2009; Razack, Bhanji, Ardenghi, & Lajoie, 2011). CC training programs have been linked to improved outcomes.These include improvements in HCP–patient communication (Committee on Pediatric Workforce, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999; KagawaSinger & Kassim-Lakha, 2003); HCPs who are better prepared to work with patients of different cultural backgrounds (Kagawa-Singer & KassimLakha, 2003); reductions in health disparities (Anderson, Scrimshaw, Fullilove, Fielding, & Normand, 2003; Kumagai & Lypson, 2009; Razack et al, 2011); and improvements in health outcomes, such as better adherence to treatment (Schilder et al, 2001), improved pain management (Narayan, 2010), and better disease control (D’Eramo-Melkus et al, 2004; Metghalchi et al, 2008). Faculty development CC programs are gradually emerging (Ferguson, Keller, Haley, & Quirk, 2003; Kamaka, 2001)

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