Cultural Sensitivity in Shaping Education

By Mari Cid, PharmD, PGY1 Community Pharmacy Resident

University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy

According to a paper published by the American Medical Association, cultural competency, or cultural awareness and sensitivity, is defined as, "the knowledge and interpersonal skills that allow providers to understand, appreciate, and work with individuals from cultures other than their own. It involves an awareness and acceptance of cultural differences, self awareness, knowledge of a patient's culture, and adaptation of skills".¹ The foundation of our American culture is in our cultural diversity as the melting pot of the world. Though there is beauty in our differences, diversity is not without its challenges. It is important to grow as a society as we grow in our diversity and one of the ways that begins is within our education system. Implementing cultural sensitivity and awareness into our education system will shape new ways of learning and is important to the success of future generations.

Historically, the most vulnerable students come from low income background and are people of color who are usually at the bottom of achieve gap with the lowest graduation rates. It is naive to think that one perfect system will work for every student. Across the United States, difference cultural values and economics play a vital role in the curriculum at different schools. As a Pilipino-American who grew up in Southern California, I was fortunate to grow up with many people who shared my similar background of immigrant parents. This identity in our community shaped curriculum in our school districts. With a significant number of us growing up Asian-American, I was able to take a Filipino class and learn about the culture of the Philippines through language, food, and dance in a classroom and never had to struggle with feeling a connection to classmates and teachers. I excelled in school, eventually earning my Doctorate in Pharmacy. Unfortunately that is not always the case.

In his TED talk, Manuel Hernandez, an educator, author, ESL (english second language) teacher in New York City describes seeing a lack of connection to curriculum as a challenge in his classroom. ² He saw that multicultural students wanted to learn, but classroom materials, such as Shakespeare, weren’t relatable to their own cultural experience. To meet this challenge, he introduced Latino/a literature and noticed a significant difference in the classroom when culturally relevant materials were introduced into the learning experience.² He noticed students began to participate and were more engaged in the class.² Through his efforts, he was able to bridge the gap of communication to help teach his students to learn English, to read, stay in school and pass citywide exams.

In a another TED talk, Dr. Melissa Crum noticed that many teachers had challenges teaching and relating to students who did not share their same cultural background.³ Most teachers today are female coming from a middle income, white background which is not a reflection of the students today. To help bridge this gap, Dr. Crum worked with a museum educator to create an arts-based professional development series that helps educators think about how they are thinking about their diverse students. Though discussion was sometimes uncomfortable, better understanding of different cultural backgrounds was essential for the educators to be able to reach the students. Dr. Melissa Crum also states that studies have shown that that students who are more engaged have high academic achievement, lessen the dropout rate, and result in more productive citizens.³

Arguably, one of the most culturally diverse states is Hawai‘i. A research study there indicated that learners thrive with culture-based education (CBE), especially indigenous students who experience positive socioemotional and other outcomes when teachers are high CBE users and when learning in high-CBE school environments.⁴ Researchers from the study believed educational progress will come from forward-oriented research and leadership that embraces the cultural advantages of students with diverse experiences of racism, poverty, cultural trauma, and oppression.⁴ As an alumni of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy from Hawai‘i, I experienced first hand how they integrated culture into our curriculum as school. Being a student from the Mainland (the continental United States), the roles were now reversed with me having to learn the culture of the classroom. From learning local language to be able to better communicate with patients, to familiarizing myself with local customs such as paying respects to the ʻĀina, and spreading aloha spirit. I took the cultural experiences I had from when I younger and applied the same mindset to learning about another culture to expand my perspective and education. I felt that the additional training of cultural competency adding value to my education as a future pharmacist. It gave me unique opportunities to apply what I learned in the classroom to real world experiences.

Cultural competence training has grown to be a fundamental part of the work environment. It is an essential part of any new employee and professional training. It is important to apply our cultural competency training, especially as healthcare workers because our job is to help our patients achieve their optimum health no matter what background they come from. Studies have already shown that cultural competence in healthcare plays an important role in patients being satisfied with their providers, as well as patients willingly and actively participating in their treatment.⁵ This has contributed to expanding technology to bridge the language barrier in communication. As pharmacists, we are also educators and it is essential that we practice cultural sensitivity with our patients and continue to find new and innovative ways that we can educate them on their medications so they can achieve the best outcomes of their therapy.

In conclusion, practicing cultural sensitivity is another way we can improve education in our diverse communities. I am an example of applying cultural sensitivity in my education and I continue to apply what I learned and grow through my new experiences as a pharmacist. As a society, continuing to find ways to integrate this mindset into our education system is where we can start to contribute to the growth of a stronger, wiser, and understanding students. 

References:

1. Fleming M, Towey K. Delivering culturally effective health care to adolescents. Chicago (IL): American Medical Association; 2001. Available at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/39/culturallyeffective.pdf. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
2. Hernandez, Manuel. (2015, March). Bridging the cultural gap in the classroom | Manuel Hernandez Carmona | TEDxAmoskeagMillyard. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br22BFA7bAg
3. Crum, Melissa. (2015, July). A Tale of Two Teachers | Melissa Crum | TEDxColumbusWomen. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtinODaW78
4. Kana‘iaupuni SM, Ledward B, Malone NO. Cultural Advantage as a Framework for Indigenous Culture-Based Education and Student Outcomes. American Educational Research Journal. 2017;54(1):311S-339S. doi:10.3102/0002831216664779.
5. Brunett M, Shingles RR. Does Having a Culturally Competent Healthcare Provider Affect the Patients’ Experience or Satisfaction? A Critically-Appraised Topic. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 2017:1-14. doi:10.1123/jsr.2016-0123.