Perceptions of intercultural competence and institutional intercultural inclusiveness among first year medical students: a 4-year study

Abstract

Background This study sought to examine the awareness/perception of intercultural competence and institutional intercultural inclusiveness among first year students at an Australian medical school over four consecutive years (2014–2017); to identify existing gaps in the curriculum and proffer recommendations. Methods The study employed an adapted 20-item questionnaire for data collection. The reliability and interrelations of the survey items were examined. Descriptive statistics was used to examine students’ perceptions, while Mann-U Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to assess items scores in relation to participant characteristics. Results Over the 4 years of study, there were 520 respondents with between 53 to 69% response rates per year. Cronbach’s alpha for the instrument was 0.88 and factor analysis showed all items loading strongly on two components. Participants’ mean score on self-reported intercultural competence levels ranged from 3.8–4.6 out of 5; indicating relatively high awareness, valuing and understanding of cultural differences among this group of students. However, their mean scores (3.4–4.2) for institutional intercultural inclusiveness were slightly lower. Conclusion The instrument used in this study is effective in assessing level of intercultural competence among medical students. However, the results highlight the need for increased institutional support and professional development for faculty members to foster institutional intercultural inclusiveness.

Cultural awareness and competence of pharmacy educators and learners from the perspective of pharmacy students at Qatar University: A mixed-methods approach

“…This was also supported by students’ discourses wherein they perceived minority populations (i.e., non-Arabs) as a barrier to the process of teaching, which could result in occasions of unequal treatment toward minorities, hence compromising their sense of belonging. The perception of cultural inclusiveness was examined among medical students at James Cook University over a period of four years revealing similar findings, with a low rating of institutional intercultural inclusiveness [ 61 ] reported. The students perceived low satisfaction with respect to the efforts of their instructors to understand their diverse cultural needs and insufficient opportunities were provided to them to learn about cultural differences.…”

“…The students perceived low satisfaction with respect to the efforts of their instructors to understand their diverse cultural needs and insufficient opportunities were provided to them to learn about cultural differences. The study highlighted the need for professional development interventions to improve cultural inclusiveness among faculty members [ 61 ].…”

Maltese as a foreign language educators’ acquisition of intercultural capabilities

“…The IC of L2 teachers In L2 teaching, the theory of IC has been used for more than 20 years (Malau-Aduli, Ross, & Adu, 2019). Due to the close connection between language and culture, L2 teachers need to be familiar with the cultural aspects of their own languages and those of their learners' languages (Deoksoon, 2020).…”

Obraz Rosji, Białorusi i Ukrainy w językowej świadomości polskich studentów filologów (wyniki eksperymentu lingwistycznego)

“…Wyniki przeprowadzonych dotychczas badań pokazują, że słabe umiejętności interkulturowe jednostek znacząco wpływają na efektywność porozumiewania się ludzi reprezentujących różne kultury i zaniżają jakość kontaktów (Miller 2000;Malau-Aduli, Ross, Adu 2019;Suzuki, Ando, Nishikawa 2019;Takhtarova, Abuzyarova, Kuzmina 2019;Zhang, Zhou 2019). Dotyczy to różnorodnych sytuacji życiowych, począwszy od towarzyskich, poprzez edukacyjne i kończąc na zawodowych.…”