ETHNICITY AND CULTURE

Terms like ethnicity and culture should not be seen as referring to objective indicators of difference and identity. Although it may be tempting to look upon them as real and concrete, they tend to be shaped by social and political forces and are subject to power relationships.

• This paper on the ‘Centre for Evidence in Ethnicity, Health and Diversity’ website explores the evolution of the ideas of race, culture and ethnicity.
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  The references below indicate sources which further discuss these issues:

• Pfeiffer, N. 1998 Theories in health care and research; theories of race, ethnicity and culture British Medical Journal 317;1381-1384.
• K J McKenzie and N S Crowcroft 1994 Describing race, ethnicity, and culture in medical research British Medical Journal 309:286-287.
• Fernando S. 2002 Mental health, race and culture. London: Macmillan.

• This site provides discussions of commonly used terms as well as key reports including the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, statistics on the UK population of the 2001 census, explanations of relevant legislation and good practice guidelines. Terms like discrimination, institutional racism, bullying and victimisation are clearly described.
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• The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (a professional, educational and trade union body) website on diversity and equal opportunities in the workplace. There is access to news, information and links without member login.
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• This RCN website called ‘Transcultural Health Care Practice: An educational resource for nurses and health care practitioners’, edited by Charles Husband and Bren Torry, is an extensive, well designed resource aimed at healthcare practitioners and educators. It is freely available. It consists of five practice modules relating to the practice areas of midwifery, child health, adult health, mental health and learning disability.
  
  The theme ‘epidemiology of diversity’ considers the clinical implications of caring for people from different ethnic backgrounds; ‘politics of diversity’ critically addresses issues of identity, discrimination and the problem of ethnic diversity; ‘transcultural communication’ raises awareness of the multiple dimensions of communication and social skills in communicating with others from different backgrounds; ‘multi-agency/ multidisciplinary partnerships across cultures’ raises issues of user and carer involvement in the development and delivery of services and considers collaborative working for social and health care planning in diverse communities; ‘transcultural supervision’ explores the supervisory relationship within in multicultural practice environment.
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• The ‘multiethnic teaching and learning in nursing project’ on the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice website is an extensive, well designed educational resource on raising awareness in relation to ethnicity, culture and health care. It can be used as a foundational module for the RCN learning unit ‘Transcultural Health Care Practice: An educational resource for nurses and health care practitioners’. It critically addresses cultural diversity, models of transcultural care, essential aspects of care and the lifespan approach, including scenarios.
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• The Health for Asylum Seekers and Refugee portal provides information, research findings, papers and practical tools written by people with expert knowledge of working with asylum seekers and refugees, both in the UK and other countries to enable health care practitioners to develop a culturally sensitive and informed approach to their practice. The site provides materials on general health, mental health and multilingual information and contains sections in relation to specific client groups. A wide range of information in relation to government policy on immigration, social and cultural practices and other issues relating to the welfare of asylum seekers and refugees is presented in a clear and helpful way.
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• Apart from providing advice and welfare services for refugees in the UK, the Refugee Council brings together a range of resources for professionals who are working with refugees. Note that not all materials are freely available.
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• This site covers a range of resources on maternity and women's health including cultural competence, female genital mitilation, pregnancy and childbirth, lesbian issues, spirituality in childbirth, and infant mortality and grieving.
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• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation Black Families Talking project listened to individuals and groups of African, African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani respondents in London and Luton discussing the ways in which they coped with exclusion and other difficulties in British society.
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• US site on Transcultural Nursing which provides a wide range of theoretical and practical materials on understanding health and illness from different cultural perspectives.
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• This website provides demographic information, definitions of terms, guidance on legislation and good practice as well as useful contacts.
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• Stopping violence against staff working in the NHS. This website provides information about strategies to reduce harassment and intimidation in the working lives of NHS staff.
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• This site accesses a slideshow entitled ‘Teaching Culture and Community in Primary Care: Assessing Learner Needs. This could be useful to anyone teaching about culture and diversity.
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• This links to the Research Center for Transcultural Studies in Health at Middlesex University. Information on current projects is available as well as learning resources for evidence based practice and details on a model for developing cultural competence.
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