TY - JOUR
T1 - Using internationalization-at-home activities to enhance the cultural awareness of health and social science research students
T2 - A mixed-method study
AU - Leung, Doris Y.
AU - Kumlien, Christine
AU - Bish, Melanie
AU - Carlson, Elisabeth
AU - Chan, Pui Sze
AU - Chan, E. Angela
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: Despite healthcare scholars valuing diversity, current cultural awareness training does not address mechanisms that drive societal patterns, that generates cultural insensitivity and reinforces stereotypes of minority groups. The influence of culture on thinking is an important issue because of potential ethnocentric biases on the design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of research. OBJECTIVES: Using internationalization-at-home activities to explore the mechanisms that enhance the development of cultural awareness in postgraduate health and social science research students. DESIGN AND METHODS: A pragmatic critical realist study, qualitatively dominant, using mixed-methods to integrate and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Data were collected pre- and post-internationalization-at-home activities. Qualitative data were collected from online discussion forums and focus groups, and quantitative data were collected from a pre-test and post-test measure of cultural awareness. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen research students in postgraduate health and social science programs from three universities (Australia, Hong Kong, and Sweden) participated in five formal internationalization-at-home webinars and informal international group activities. RESULTS: Participants reported four mechanisms counteracting structures (i.e., ethnocentric biases) toward the emergence of cultural awareness: 1. awareness of cultural issues motivating people toward achieving a common goal; 2. reflexivity within psychological safety; 3. deliberations that challenge the veracity of individual assumptions; 4. courage coupled with curiosity. When some or all the mechanisms occurred, properties of enhanced cultural awareness emerged, as confirmed by the quantitative data. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural awareness training should emphasize social relations to allow cultural safety to develop for postgraduate health and social science research students. Without skills revealing unconsciously held ethical values, this study argues that postgraduate health and social science students may inadvertently reconstitute and reinforce in their research the discrimination of underserved groups.
AB - BACKGROUND: Despite healthcare scholars valuing diversity, current cultural awareness training does not address mechanisms that drive societal patterns, that generates cultural insensitivity and reinforces stereotypes of minority groups. The influence of culture on thinking is an important issue because of potential ethnocentric biases on the design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of research. OBJECTIVES: Using internationalization-at-home activities to explore the mechanisms that enhance the development of cultural awareness in postgraduate health and social science research students. DESIGN AND METHODS: A pragmatic critical realist study, qualitatively dominant, using mixed-methods to integrate and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Data were collected pre- and post-internationalization-at-home activities. Qualitative data were collected from online discussion forums and focus groups, and quantitative data were collected from a pre-test and post-test measure of cultural awareness. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen research students in postgraduate health and social science programs from three universities (Australia, Hong Kong, and Sweden) participated in five formal internationalization-at-home webinars and informal international group activities. RESULTS: Participants reported four mechanisms counteracting structures (i.e., ethnocentric biases) toward the emergence of cultural awareness: 1. awareness of cultural issues motivating people toward achieving a common goal; 2. reflexivity within psychological safety; 3. deliberations that challenge the veracity of individual assumptions; 4. courage coupled with curiosity. When some or all the mechanisms occurred, properties of enhanced cultural awareness emerged, as confirmed by the quantitative data. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural awareness training should emphasize social relations to allow cultural safety to develop for postgraduate health and social science research students. Without skills revealing unconsciously held ethical values, this study argues that postgraduate health and social science students may inadvertently reconstitute and reinforce in their research the discrimination of underserved groups.
KW - Cultural awareness
KW - Cultural competence
KW - Cultural diversity
KW - Cultural education and/or training
KW - Internationalization
KW - Internationalization activities
KW - Postgraduate students
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104899513&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104851
DO - 10.1016/j.nedt.2021.104851
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 33711583
AN - SCOPUS:85104899513
SN - 0260-6917
VL - 100
SP - 104851
JO - Nurse Education Today
JF - Nurse Education Today
ER -