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This season of SNACK has been produced by the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Queensland as part of the COTA Queensland Home Care Workforce Support Program which received grant funding from the Australian Government.
Produced by Martin Franklin at East Coast Studio
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lens on which this podcast has been produced. And we pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to elder’s past and present. Welcome to snack, the aged care podcast where we break down some of the big questions around what it really means to be person centered. This podcast is brought to you by the ethnic communities Council of Queensland, also known as ECC Q, the peak body for multicultural communities in Queensland. In this episode, we’ll discuss the need to conduct a cultural assessment when working with culturally diverse clients. We need to know more about the people we are caring for in order to meet their needs, and ensure they are treated with respect and dignity. Knowing the country of birth and the language they speak is a great start. But that isn’t enough information for making informed decisions about their care. Conducting a cultural assessment can help us to deliver culturally appropriate care will now hear from Marcela Fisher from ECC Q’s multicultural advisory service about what a cultural assessment is.
01:28
It’s a unique living document designed to record important cultural and life information and build record with the professionals and consumers. The goal is to obtain information from the consumer that truthfully describes their needs, and help us understand the cultural background, values, norms and practices. The principles of a cultural assessment are to provide a holistic representation of the person cultural needs to ensure the individual is heard and considered throughout their assessment and care to tailor their care to the cultural needs. The cultural assessment is not designed to be used as a formal interview, but as a conversation guide, and only some question will apply to some consumers. Some key points to consider when conducting their cultural assessment, or to understand and recognize that the population is diverse in terms of culture, language, religion and tradition. Be open to learning about the cultural backgrounds of the people you are caring for.
02:43
Usually, a cultural assessment is undertaken by the assessor, but are then termed living documents as they are updated as circumstances change for the client. A cultural assessment complements the assessment done by the aged care assessment team.
03:02
Find out what language they speak in the language they feel more comfortable speaking, they may speak some English, but they may feel more comfortable being assessed in another language. It could be the mother tongue, but it can also be the language they were raised in, or another language they use daily at home. Don’t assume that preferred language based on the country refers as the consumer directly what language they prefer to communicate in. Don’t test your geographical knowledge, like the languages or the elect is spoken in a particular country. For example, a Spanish differ from Portuguese and even though these languages may sound similar, and are widely spoken in Latin America went on from they are not the same. Trust me, I’m a Latina. Another aspect to be aware of is to not assess the consumer English skills based on the short interaction. The assessment includes essential clinical and non clinical question. Even though their English a skill may be good enough for casual conversation, it may not be enough to express the cultural care needs in detail. Moreover, some people may feel uncomfortable being assessed, they may become a stress or nervous unable to speak English properly or fear about saying something wrong or inappropriate. Many people from multicultural background may also feel embarrassed to tell you they can speak English well and may mask it by answering yes to all your question. They may also use body language to try explaining what they want to say. However, so much can be misinterpreted and Miss reading body language. Some common body language Q F. facial expressions gestures, postures a contact, smile, etc. Body language cues can vary across cultures and individuals. So it is essential to consider the contact and other factors when interpreting nonverbal signals, trying to read and interpret the consumer body language and guess what they tried to say, Good give you inadequate information about the cultural needs and make it difficult for you to provide care to meet their needs.
05:37
When completing a cultural assessment, it may be necessary to engage a professional interpreter. Clients from multicultural backgrounds have the right to access professional interpreters. It is part of our duty of care to ensure they offered access to interpreters and advise them that the service is free. Don’t assume that people are aware of their rights, they may even think that there’s a cost involved, and they won’t ask for a professional interpreter. A client may ask family members have friends to help them interpret. However, it is not encouraged, but they can still be present with the client for support. Let’s join Marcella as she explains why we should not use informal interpreters.
06:32
First of all, by allowing family and friends to interpret, we receive information being interpret inaccurately, particularly in terms of terminology or technical information. Family and friends may not want the responsibility and may not interpret exactly what had been said, possible censoring some of the information, deserting and suppressing the message. Secondly, it’s a matter of privacy. For most of us sharing personal health information with our children, for example, would be uncomfortable or sharing woman business with men in the family and vice versa. Offering access to an interpreter should be done appropriately has well explained to the consumer they need to engage a professional interpreter. Let them know that it’s important to capture the need clearly and avoid mistake to provide best care to meet their needs. Clarify that interpreter job is to ensure accurate in fact communication was professional interpreters work under a code of ethics that require them to interpret it accurately and honestly. And they need to maintain a strict confidentiality and foresight to the consumer that only your organization will use their information for matters related to the care. Another thing to consider is allocating extreme extra time just to the for the assessment when engaging an interpreter. Remember, it is not only a matter of interpreting literally, but it’s also about adding some contact. Some English words and concept may not exceed in some languages in have to be explained. Conducting the assessment when engaged in a professional interpreter will take longer than usual. So be prepared. Working with professional interpreters is an escape. And I will encourage you to do some training on the topic to learn the techniques for working effectively with them. When working with multicultural people you may encounter that they want to have family and friends with them during the assessment if they have decided to have someone with them, explain clearly to everyone how the process work. What is an assessment? What is assessment for? Why do you need to ask this question explain your organization privacy and confidentiality policies? What are you doing with the information and where the information will be stored? explained to the support person that the consumer must be the person answering the question to be able to tailor the care to their specific needs.
09:32
To learn more about interpreter services, listen to episode three of this podcast season. The value of engaging professional interpreters. The cultural assessment includes questions to find out the client’s degree of acculturation to Australian society. acculturation is the process through which individuals from different cultures adapt and integrate into the new culture while Maintaining some of their core values. We learn our core values and beliefs in our childhood. But as we get older, we adapt to the environment and society we live in.
10:14
If we spend most of our early and teen years in another society and arrive in Australia in our later years, it may take longer for us to adapt to Australian values. For example, I arrived in Australia in my 30s however, I left my home country for Europe in my 20s, I learned some core values in children, what I was born in, embrace. So when I moved to Australia, I had the cultural shock has the values and way of life were the opposite. I went from a collectivity society to an individualistic one. It took me two years to set a world in the other country. I learned a lot and I learned diverse way of doing things. So when I arrived in Australia, a individualistic society towards a say for me adapting to the Australian values. Another important aspect to consider is religion and spirituality, religion and spirituality can give us a sense of purpose and meaning, and our religious values can guide us in how we live our life and also our understanding of health and illness. Asking if the practice of follow any religion or spirituality can help us a rancher suggests chickens humor to attend significant event in the community if they wish to. It is important to be aware that even though some people may not actively practice any specific religion, they may still hold on to traditional values that will influence their belief on health and illness. Moreover, we should not assume that the person holds or follows any religious value just because they grew up in a particular country. For example, Latin America has historically been cathodic and more than 60% of the population identifies as Catholic. However, Latin America is a large and diverse continent and is home to more than 650 million people. So remember that every one is unique.
12:20
By conducting a cultural assessment and integrating this information into the client’s care plan, and to the organization’s practices, it creates a more inclusive and supportive environment for culturally diverse consumers. PCC Q’s multicultural advisory service has adapted a cultural Assessment Checklist, which is available for free download on our website, the link for this checklist, as well as other resources available in the show notes.
13:01
Funding for this podcast has been provided by the Council on the aging Queensland homecare workforce Support Consortium as part of the homecare workforce Support Program, which is funded through grant funding from the Australian Government
