Cultural competence assignment, make an interview with an lesbian

In the full report due on Oct 22, you will include a summary of the first part as well. This should not exceed one-fourth of your full report. In the full report, you can edit or modify the text from the first part of the assignment in light of the feedback.

Tips on interviewing someone

Request your interviewee for an anonymous conversation about their health practices, attitudes and so on. Preferably, it should be someone you do not have a close relationship with.

Explain to them that this conversation is for a class assignment and their identity will not be revealed. If they consent to talk/be interviewed, ask them about attitudes, beliefs and practices among their culture towards health and healthcare in general, or a specific health issue in particular. Some general questions to help you are given below.

Write a two-page report about the interview in an essay form or arranged as per the rubric criteria. You will not identify/name the person(s) you interviewed, but will identify their age, gender and culture.

This report must include a reflection on

1. your own identity and culture,

2. what you learnt from the interviewee/respondent about attitudes, beliefs and practices regarding health and healthcare,

3. how this was similar or different than what you expected to find in the interview and why,

4. whether and why you expect this interaction to have any impact (or not) on future interactions with members of this cultural group, especially in a healthcare setting and

how you will serve the healthcare needs of persons with perspectives different than yours, especially among persons from different cultures.

Some of the questions you may want to ask, but are not limited to include:

What does health and being healthy mean to you?

What are some of the largest health concerns for you or people from your culture?

Do you practice any complementary or alternative medicines or cultural rituals related to healing?

What is the effect of foods traditionally consumed in your culture on your health?

Do you believe that health programs serve the needs of your culture/family/yourself in a satisfactory way?

What elements should health programs have in order to be successful in serving healthcare needs of persons from your culture?

Tips

1. Reassure the respondent that they don’t have to be experts on the questions you are asking. You are interested in their perspective and they should answer questions to the best of their knowledge.

2. Probe gently. Examples of probing include asking follow-up questions, requesting examples and so on. For example, if a person responds that talking about health beliefs is hard, ask them, “ You said explaining symptoms to a doctor is hard. Could you please explain that a little more?” OR “ Could you share an example or experience in which it was hard to discuss symptoms with a doctor? What made it hard to do?”

3. Reassure the respondent that they don’t have to answer any question they are not comfortable answering.

4. If the person is uncomfortable, ask them if talking another time may be preferable.

5. Seek their permission to take notes.

Formatting

The full report should not exceed two pages, single-spaced with 1 inch margins on both sides, font size 11/12 and font type Times New Roman or Arial. Please follow formatting requirements to avoid losing points. Please put your last name in the filename, e.g. George part2.docx.

Grading

The purpose of this assignment is to provide you an opportunity to think deeply about reducing health disparities through inter-personal interaction and investigation of your own perspectives. There are no right or wrong answers. Instead, the quality of your work will be judged on the basis of writing quality, depth of analysis and synthesis of the material you present.

1