Re-visioning cultural competence in community health services in Victoria

Abstract

There are few studies exploring the need to develop and manage culturally competent health services for refugees and migrants from diverse backgrounds. Using data from 50 interviews with service providers from 26 agencies, and focus group discussion with nine different ethnic groups, this paper examines how the Victorian state government funding and service agreements negatively impact on the quest to achieve cultural competence. The study found that service providers have adopted "one approach fits all" models of service delivery. The pressure and competition for resources to address culturally and linguistically diverse communities' needs allows little opportunity for partnership and collaboration between providers, leading to insufficient sharing of information and duplication of services, poor referrals, incomplete assessment of needs, poor compliance with medical treatment, underutilisation of available services and poor continuity of care. This paper outlines a model for cultural consultation and developing needs-led rather than service-

Representations and coverage of non-English-speaking immigrants and multicultural issues in three major Australian health care publications

“…Tran et al [91] profiled 829 clients of the Ethnic Obstetric Liaison Officer Service in the south west of Sydney and concluded that ethnic-specific service models are necessary for linguistic and cultural relevance; Heaney and Moreham [92] surveyed 109 hospital staff and found they reported under-usage of professional interpreters and inappropriate usage of family and friends as interpreters; Chan and Quine [93] conducted focus groups in Chinese to determine the health needs of this community; Han [94] explored the factors sustaining usage of herbal medicines by Koreans in Australia; Renzaho [89] negatively reviewed community service delivery to culturally and linguistically diverse populations and suggested a new model of needs-led 'cultural consultation' be implemented; Murray and Skull [88], discussed the barriers to care faced by refugees, including language, culture, legal, employment and policy barriers, and outlined available health and social resources and entitlements; Wen et al [90] found culturally diverse populations were less likely to be visited by child health nurses or volunteers and more likely to find such visits 'uncomfortable'; and Strong et al examined the health status of overseas born Australians and found lower reported mortality and hospital utilisation [95]. …”

Health situation of migrant and minority nurses: A systematic review

“…These programmes should promote cultural competency and thus prevent perceptions and experiences of discrimination and unfair practices [78–80]. However, the awareness for the need of cultural competent transition programmes still stands in the need of development [26, 81]. An effective cultural competence model should be based on four central components: professional level, individual level, systematic and organisational level [26].…”

In or out? Barriers and facilitators to refugee-background young people accessing mental health services

“…While some participants in the current study suggested ethnic matching (of worker and client), the evidence for this is mixed (Jerrell, 1998;Nadeau & Measham, 2006) and ethnic matching can be a barrier to service engagement if it raises concerns (real or other) about client confidentiality. ,Existing literature pointed out that working with interpreters raises specific issues related to confidentiality, (Minas, Stuart, & Klimidis, 1994;Misra, Connolly, & Majeed, 2006;Renzaho, 2008;Ward & Palmer, 2005), despite best-practice recommendations addressing ethical concerns and confidentiality (Miletic et al, 2006;Rousseau, et al, 2011).The overriding suggestion therefore is that service providers should explicitly clarify young people's preferences for workers and interpreters.…”