[MUSIC] Hi everyone, welcome to this lecture on Culture Shock and Cultural Competency. I'm Anna Kalbarczyk. In this first section, we'll talk about cultural competency. Many of you have already been introduced to cultural competency in another course, but I would like to re-emphasize its importance to you as students preparing to travel. What is culture? Culture refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups. Wow, that's a mouthful. Culture is not always consistent across individuals, so not everyone in the same culture would practice the culture similarly and it's not always static over time. So, culture can change over time. What is competence? Competence implies having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors, and needs presented by households, patients and communities. Another mouthful. Cultural competency is an important issue for students working overseas, even those who have had previous experience. Assuming what normal behaviors are, or relying on stereotypes, can greatly impact public health practices, as well as your personal and professional relationships in different cultures and countries. Ask questions of partners, and be aware of how others behave. What is normal to you might not be normal in another culture, and that's okay. Some examples of where cultural competency has been an issue in the past, specifically among trainees is refusing to learn a local language, expecting others to adapt to your culture, or letting your frustrations have an impact on the professional environment. The issue of language can be a tricky one and different sites require or prefer different levels of fluency in a language. Regardless of proficiency requirements, I would always encourage students to try to learn as much of a language as they can even if the communities in which you'll be learning speak English very well. This is a sign that you want to engage with partners and community members and that you care about where they're coming from. A student in previous years went to work in a country where they didn't speak the language very well and over the course of this time, they did not really attempt to learn even the basics of the local language. Instead, the student continuously expected translations to be provided of study materials and during meetings and this person relied on other students' language knowledge. Unfortunately, this situation placed an undue burden on the team, on local resources and then, of course, on the student themselves. If this person had taken the time to learn more of the local language, they would have an easier time working with people and building relationships. And perhaps even had an easier time requesting translations when it was needed. There are a number of frustrations that can occur while you're overseas beyond health issues and bad traffic, we'll talk about them more later. But it can be easy for students to let these personal or professional frustrations spill into their day to day professional environment and have an impact on the entire team, and further create an environment of discomfort. The cultural background of your colleagues are shaped by many things, by economics, social structural factors, and there are number of considerations you want to think about in the workplace. What are appropriate forms of communication? What is appropriate dress? We do tend to be a little bit more casual here at Hopkins than even our partners in the global south. And try not to judge by education level even though there is a different level of significance placed on education, degrees, and titles. Remember that having on the ground work experience can be just as valuable as a degree. It can also be important to have an understanding of local holidays. For example, if you are in a community that practices Islam, you might not want to eat in front of people during Ramadan. This could be considered very rude. It's also important to understand cultural aspects around meetings. There's a saying in Indonesia, and it's much nicer in the local language than it is how I'm going to say it. But it basically is translated to, a meeting without snacks is a meeting in which everyone leaves in tears. So you really can't form a meeting without having tea and food, it's just not okay. Try to remember that in different cultures there are different rituals, or different practices that surround the workplace. There are also different cultures surrounding training institutions, and what training looks like, what the structure of education is and even what learning looks like. Remember that, while learning experiences here might look one way where you might be really encouraged to talk to professors after class, ask questions, participate in class. There are other cultures that don't really behave in the same way. So you might struggle in a different institution where you're conducting a training to get people to participate, where they might not be used to participating. And then remember personally that it's important to have flexibility while you're overseas, to be as patient as you can be. And to remember that your water, Internet, and electricity are going to stop working at some point and that's why you really need that flexibility and patience. Don't rely on your internet, electricity, and water in deadline situations.
