Cultural Sensitivity Beyond Ethnicity: A Universal Precautions Model

Cross-cultural healthcare research has grown exponentially in recent years, focusing primarily on the healthcare-related needs of ethnic and linguistic minorities. However, by approaching cultural sensitivity from an ethnic/linguistic perspective, the practitioner runs the risk of relying on essentialized or stereotyped accounts of cultural groups, as well as overlooking the needs of other groups (e.g., gays, elderly, physically challenged) that may validly be viewed as cultures and profitably studied with the tools of cross-cultural scholarship. This essay argues that Hofstede’s paradigm of cultural dimensions can serve as a useful foundation for providing culturally sensitive care following the model of Universal Precautions as a metaphor

Negotiating Values in Stories of Illness and Garing on St. Kitts

An increasing number of individuals worldwide are receiving home nursing care from loved ones. Many healthcare professionals are exploring the use of narrative to help family caregivers meet the personal demands of this work. Citing Ricoeur\u27s notion of narrative identity as a social process in which cultural norms and values are negotiated between speaker and audience, this paper argues that health care professionals can assist their clients by viewing narrative as collaboration, not autonomous construction. Collaboration in construction of narrative identity was obsewed in interactions between family caregivers and public health workers on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. There, caregivers were supported by a dialogic process in which interlocutors explored the cultural values that define and delimit the possibilities for living as caregivers

Leveraging networks : online network based learning for 21st century engineering education and practice

How can engineering students be prepared for their career in the 21st century? For over 10 years, Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) has advanced the concept of the ‘global engineer’ as one approach to this challenge. The global engineer is a technically competent engineer with excellent communication and leadership skills, as well as a developed awareness of globalization and sustainability. The current engineering curriculum offers many tools and resources to prepare students for the unique challenges and opportunities that the 21st century will present. However, there is a great opportunity to leverage recent advances in online learning and network/community based learning to enable students to further connect to these 21st century concepts. This paper outlines the architecture of an online platform as well as its approach to pedagogy and developing a Canadian learning network for global engineering.Non UBCUnreviewedFacultyOthe