Transcript Community Services

Vision: “Dedicated to Health”
Mission: “We Care For You”
Overview

The purpose of the training is to give
participants an understanding of the diversity
of the values and beliefs as well as the wide
range of cultural, social and spiritual
dimensions they may encounter whilst
providing health care. This training also
touches on some basic cross cultural skills
that will help staff to respect diversity and
display cross cultural competence.
“The diversity of Victoria’s population is one of
our State’s greatest assets. The Department is
committed to supporting diversity and
reducing health inequality through accessible
and appropriate health service delivery. It is
important that health care services meet the
needs of everyone in our community so that all
Victorians are able to attain optimal health and
wellbeing.”
January 2014

Some groups in Victoria experience poorer
health due to a range of biological,
behavioural and social factors, such as
culture, language, migration experience,
Aboriginality, sex and gender, gender
identity, sexual orientation, age and
disability. All these factors can influence
our health and wellbeing and experiences
of healthcare.


Socioeconomic circumstances and geographic
location can also have a significant impact on
the health of individuals, families and
communities, as can discrimination, such as
sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia and
transphobia.
A lack of access to appropriate services can
also be detrimental to a person’s health and
wellbeing.
Specific responses have been developed by the
department to make service more appropriate
and to improve access, including:
 Aboriginal health
 Cultural and linguistic diversity
 Refugee and asylum seeker health
 Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and
Intersex (GLBTI) health
 Women’s health
 Men’s Health
 Older people
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/diversity/
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Diversity – ‘points of difference’
Macquarie Dictionary
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
Culture – shared values and beliefs, symbols,
practices and attitudes
Values ‐ ‘ones principles or standards; ones
judgement of what is valuable or important in
life’
Oxford Dictionary

Learned: We are not born with it. It is not
genetic. We learn it from others e.g. language,
beliefs, including religion.

Shared: As it is learned, it must be shared. Others
must understand it and convey it e.g. the ‘thumbs
up’ and ‘OK’ sign.

Dynamic: It changes over place and time. It is
affected by migration and time spent in a new
place. Migration may be a small distance, such as a
rural area to a big city or large as in between
continents
1.
Be aware of the influence of culture on
health status, beliefs, practices, and values.
2.
Increase self-awareness about your own
health beliefs, practices, and values.
3.
Learn about the prevailing health beliefs,
practices, and values of the diverse groups
you serve.
4.
Identify potential areas of congruity and
difference between your personal health
beliefs, practices, and values and those of
the diverse groups you serve.
5.
Increase self-awareness about your (crosscultural) health care ethics.
6.
Learn skills to identify, evaluate, and
respond to diverse ethical conflicts, with
special attention to issues that challenge
professional integrity.
7.
Develop attitudes that are culturally
responsive to the diverse groups you
serve.
8.
Learn communication skills that are
culturally responsive to the diverse groups
you serve.
9.
Develop culturally responsive knowledge,
skills, and attitudes that can be applied to
specific clinical relationships.
Be objective about
your own culture and
understand how it
impacts on your
interaction with
others
Acknowledge
people’s
individuality and
their right to be
different
Avoid focusing
only on
differences - look
for similarities
Diversity and
Cross cultural
skills
Adapted from Albury Wodonga Multi Cultural Resource Centre
Be open to learning
and considering
different (cultural)
perspectives