Page 201 - Cultural Competence in Health Education

Toward a Culturally Competent Health Education Workforce 179

to work with community partners to implement culture - specifi c needs assessments and
programs.
The students practice the principles and skills of cultural competence through
community - based course projects in at least three courses. Recent project examples
include needs assessment work and health promotion programming with migrant and
seasonal farmworkers (predominantly Hispanics) in east Texas, with a predominantly
African American housing community in south Dallas, and with a culturally diverse
homeless population and a low - literacy older adult population in central Texas. As stu-

dents complete these projects, they are required to write reflection papers in which
they describe what they learned about themselves and their ability to serve individuals
from a variety of cultures. The student feedback is often overwhelmingly positive, and

students who are in the degree program but not enrolled in these specific courses often
ask if they can engage voluntarily to help with these course project events.
In addition to local community - based course projects, CHE program leaders
recently added an international summer study abroad opportunity that allows students
to travel to Brazil with a health education professor and engage in learning experi-
ences for college credit. In this program the students complete an international health
education course and a cross - cultural health communication course through which
they learn about global health issues, international health policies and organizational
efforts that shape international health, effective health promotion strategies in interna-
tional settings, and how to promote health across language and cultural barriers. The
students attend classes at the program ’ s hotel site and engage in a variety of commu-
nity health projects with local Brazilian partners. Some health education majors engage
in the program as international health education interns who help to develop, imple-
ment, coordinate, and evaluate the community health projects. A strong program attri-
bute is that faculty members work side by side with their students in these projects and
are willing to model and openly discuss their own personal journeys toward cultural
competence. Discuss the following questions:

1. What additional steps could be taken by the leaders of this degree program to
enhance opportunities for students to develop cultural competence?
2. How can the development of cultural competence among students be measured?

What measurement outcomes could serve as evidence that a student has improved
in the area of cultural competence?

KEY TERMS

CLAS standards Heritage consistency
Corporate culture International summer study abroad
Cultural competence Organizational culture
Experiential learning Service learning

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