Cultural Competency in Occupational Therapy: Beyond a Cross-Cultural View of Practice

Abstract

The purposes of this paper are two. The first purpose is to contribute to cultural competence in occupational therapy practice. The second is to contribute to occupational therapy literature about culture and cultural analysis related to practice. This paper introduces a cultural analysis of stories about the therapeutic process with two Japanese therapists and their Japanese patients. Two therapeutic situations, including therapists' and their patients' experiences, are interpreted by the author, a Japanese occupational therapist, as critical incidents for reflection to improve culture general competence. The stories illustrate the patients' perception of life with illness and, particularly, the emergence of their cultural values within the therapy process. The analyses focus on how an understanding of the patients' illness experience is integrated into the therapy process and how the therapeutic interventions reflect the culture. In one case, the therapeutic occupation of cooking links to the meaning found in the traditional Japanese woman's role. In the second case, the therapist-patient relationship, based on local rather than western social relationships, promoted the patient's engagement in meaningful occupations. Reflection on these stories, which illustrate an alternative cultural view of occupations and therapeutic relationships, may assist occupational therapists in the development of improved level of cultural competence.

Exploring the Impact of Service Learning in Haiti on the Cultural Competence of OTD Students

“…The cognitive dissonance that occurs with students who have entrenched individualistic values encountering such dichotomy creates a sensitivity to cultural implications that will hopefully translate into practice. These critical incidents, described in the context of occupational therapy by Odawara (2005), allow opportunities for self-reflection on one's own cultural beliefs, biases, and assumptions as well as identification of the client's culture and implications on the OT process. Odawara (2005) described the critical incident approach to enhance the cultural competence of OTs through reflection on stories of the therapeutic process between Japanese patients and providers.…”

Test-retest reliability evaluation of the Escala de Conciencia Cultural para Estudiantes de Terapia Ocupacional en América Latina (ECCETO) Cultural Awareness Scale for Occupational Therapy Students in Latin America

“…These differences provided the impetus to develop a new scale to assessing cultural awareness in Latin America, based on recently published theoretical data and empirical data collected from local practitioners (CASTRO; DAHLIN-IVANOFF; MÅRTENSSON, 2016a, b). The use of the two instruments in research also differs as since publication, the CASQ has been used in four related studies, whereas the ECCETO has not been used (CASTRO; DAHLIN-IVANOFF; MÅRTENSSON, 2016a;CHERRY et al, 2009;CHEUNG;SHAH;MUNCER, 2002;KALE;SWEE HONG, 2007;MURDEN et al, 2008;RASMUSSEN et al, 2005). Further investigation is required with larger groups of students to fully compare both instruments.…”

“…Further exploration should also focus on the development of similar scales for practitioners and faculties, and in other regions outside English-speaking countries, where the currently available scale has been designed and implemented (CHERRY et al, 2009;CHEUNG;SHAH;MUNCER, 2002;KALE;SWEE HONG, 2007;MURDEN et al, 2008;RASMUSSEN et al, 2005). Socio-historical conditions and practice contexts for occupational therapists also need to be addressed when research is being designed (GUAJARDO; KRONENBERG; RAMUGONDO, 2015).…”

“…The need for cultural awareness in occupational therapy has been acknowledged in literature (CASTRO; MÅRTENSSON, 2014;KINÉBANIAN;STOMPH, 2009;ODAWARA, 2005). Cultural awareness can be described as the affective dimension of cultural competence, including self-exploration of values, meanings and heritage in personal and professional terms (CAMPINHA-BACOTE, 2002;KINÉBANIAN;STOMPH, 2009;REW et al, 2003).…”

“…The Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Questionnaire (CASQ), is an instrument initially developed for English occupational therapy students (CHEUNG;SHAH;MUNCER, 2002). Its psychometric properties have been tested and it has been used in studies in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia (CHERRY et al, 2009;CHEUNG;SHAH;MUNCER, 2002;KALE;SWEE HONG, 2007;MURDEN et al, 2008;RASMUSSEN;LLOYD;WIELANDT, 2005).…”