What if we focus on developing commonalities? Results of an international and interdisciplinary Delphi study on transcultural competence

The Culturally Competent Healthcare Professional: The RESPECT Competencies from a Systematic Review of Delphi Studies

“…Additionally, Deardorff's [27] study was largely in the field of education, but we decided to include it because some of the experts had worked in the healthcare sector. Similarly, Montecinos and Grunfelder's study [28] was a more generic Delphi study, but we included it because some of the experts were psychologists and cross-cultural trainers. On the other hand, six Delphi studies were excluded, as they did not relate to healthcare or did not explore competencies that should be demonstrated by healthcare professionals.…”

“…Experts clarified the content of the knowledge that healthcare professionals should have to work effectively with diverse populations. The most dominant content related to social determinants of health, social and cultural factors influencing health, and knowledge of the various cultures [16,17,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Other studies highlighted the importance of having knowledge of more aspects.…”

“…Five studies discussed the need for healthcare professionals to learn from their patients [2,9,10,28,36]. However, experts from twelve studies reached a consensus on other competencies that were required for learning from patients and valuing their patients' perspectives.…”

“…In support, experts in Jirwe et al's [29] study reached a consensus on having a humane outlook, showing respect, being open to cultural differences, showing interest in the patients' views, having good verbal and non-verbal communication, and respecting patients' wishes and the fact that their families might wish to be involved. Other relevant competencies were politeness [17], communicating sensitively [30,37], ensuring trust [37], participating in or seeing the practices of other cultures [27,28,31,36], accepting gender and sexual diversity [18], ensuring equality and justice, and promoting health literacy [33]. Furthermore, Chae et al [30] presented experts' opinions about the importance of exploring and valuing the patients' ideas, while Johansson et al [32], Ziegler, Michaëlis, and Sørensen [17], and Deardorff [27] talked about active listening, and Forkhzadian et al [33], Jirwe et al [29], and Deardorff [27] talked about the importance of being curious and asking questions.…”

“…Interestingly, Deardorff [27] explicitly found that experts reached a consensus on "cultural empathy", which largely refers to one's capacity to show a genuine understanding of another's culturally specific feelings, thoughts, and views. A recommendation made by experts in Montecinos and Grunfelder's [28] study was about creating a "third culture", which would be neither "yours" nor "mine". Such a common culture would provide solid grounds for healthcare professionals and patients better understanding and respecting each other.…”