Students' Internal Reactions to a One-Week Cultural Immersion Trip: A Qualitative Analysis of Student Journals

Culinary cultural immersion: A qualitative analysis of resident knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral changes following a brief Somali cultural immersion experience

Background

Teaching cultural humility is required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and can improve patient satisfaction and health care outcomes. Because one-third of the 150,000 Somali immigrants and refugees in the United States live in Minnesota, we aimed to determine whether a brief cultural immersion experience, where small groups of residents share a meal with Somali interpreters at a Somali restaurant, would affect resident knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors when caring for Somali patients in a Minnesota emergency department.

Methods

From October 2017 to September 2018, emergency medicine residents were invited to dinners held outside of regular clinical/academic hours. Dinners took place at a Somali restaurant and were facilitated by a Somali interpreter and a faculty physician. While they were designed as learner-driven sessions, facilitators were encouraged to discuss specific themes. In addition to an evaluation survey, participants underwent semistructured interviews after the experiences, and a qualitative analysis of derived themes is reported.

Results

Six dinners were hosted for a total of 20 residents, with 17 (85%) completing the evaluation survey and interview. Residents strongly agreed that this experience was worth their time and would recommend the program. Residents reported an increase in their knowledge of Somali culture, health care paradigms, and diet. Behavioral changes were described, including how residents greet patients, tailor clinical visits to patient expectations, and use interpreters as cultural brokers. Attitudinal changes were reported to a lesser degree but included an increased acceptance of cultural differences and an increased sense of connectedness to this population. Finally, residents reported that the benefits of this program were due to the authenticity of the experience, the informal small-group setting, and their sense of being in the minority during the dinners.

Conclusions

A brief immersion experience at a Somali restaurant was sufficient to result in increased knowledge, attitudinal, and behavioral changes when caring for Somali patients.

Experiences That Matter: Unraveling the Link Between Extracurricular Activities and Emotional and Social Competencies

Emotional and social competencies have been shown to be extremely desirable in young people for their successful entry into the labor market. Their development has been studied primarily as a result of formal training in the educational and work domains, whereas relatively little is known about the role played by extracurricular activities in promoting these types of competencies. Non-working personal experiences are often used as proxies to assess the emotional and social competencies of candidates in recruitment and selection phases. However, this inference is not based on clear scientific evidence. Drawing on experiential learning theory, this study investigated empirically the relationship between a range of extracurricular activities (volunteering, cultural activities, experience abroad, sport) and the competency portfolio of graduates. Data were collected from a sample of 324 graduates through a structured survey and a multi-rater assessment of their emotional and social competencies. The results of the Partial Least Square-Path Modeling in general provide support for the positive association between experiential extracurricular activities and emotional and social competencies, although not all relationships are supported. The present study contributes to advance in the understanding of the determinants of emotional and social competencies by examining their relationship with a broad range of extracurricular activities. Moreover, it discusses implications for higher education and human resource management.

Cultural Immersion in the Education of Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review

PURPOSE

With the ever-changing cultural makeup of society, the ability to deliver culturally appropriate healthcare is essential. One educational method aimed at increasing cultural knowledge and sensitivity in the education of healthcare professionals is cultural immersion. Cultural immersion creates opportunity for transformational learning through direct interaction with culturally diverse populations. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the qualitative effects of cultural immersion experiences on graduate-level healthcare professional students.

METHODS

A search of the CINAHL and ERIC databases was performed utilizing search terms including cultural immersion, cultural sensitivity, educational outcomes, and healthcare professionals limited to publication within the last 10 years. The articles were screened according to title, abstract, and full-text following application of inclusion/exclusion criteria. Themes identified within each article were collected and categorized, using qualitative methodology, into five overarching domains to assess the educational experiences. Studies were scored for quality using the qualitative portion of the McGill Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool - 2011.

RESULTS

Nine studies incorporating a total of 94 participants with experiences in 14 different culturally diverse environments revealing 47 individually identified themes were included in the review. Results indicated that all cultural immersion experiences stimulated increased cultural awareness and sensitivity.

DISCUSSION

Cultural immersion experiences produced a positive, multi-domain effect on cultural learning in students of the health professionals. Results support a basis for implementation of cultural immersion experiences into the education of healthcare professionals with the goal of increasing cultural sensitivity.

Results of Immersion Service Learning Activism With Peers

Despite the emphasis on multicultural counseling competence and social justice in counseling psychology, the mechanisms behind building skills related to effective work remain elusive. This qualitative study explored the experiences of student-participants during a service learning course based on social justice principles in Belize. The researchers sought to inform how a non-traditional teaching methodology—immersion service learning activism—might affect these students’ development. The researchers used Consensual Qualitative Research to analyze interviews and journals through a collaborative and reflective process. Eleven domains emerged from the analysis. Results confirmed past research related to immersion and service learning, including personal and professional development and changes in diversity attitudes. There were also unanticipated themes related to complex interpersonal and group dynamics. These findings demonstrate the influence of immersion, service learning, and group process in intra- as well as interpersonal development and skill building related to cultural competency and social justice activism.

A Cultural Scavenger Hunt: Tools of Engagement

The authors describe the use of a cultural scavenger hunt to engage visiting students in cultural conversations within a short-term study-abroad course in the Caribbean. Students from a host university developed questions designed to engage visiting students in dialog with local residents and encouraged the students to return with artifacts and answers to questions. The authors outline how they developed the scavenger hunt, the activities it required of the students, and possible variations for use in other settings. Students reported that the scavenger hunt helped them develop an appreciation for cultural diversity.