APOLOGIES...LONGISH MESSAGE
Dear all,
As the creator and moderator of this mailing list I must offer my view
about the purpose of the list. As I wrote in a previous email, the
original idea for setting up the list was to help people develop and
maintain a habit of cultural competence since the list was an outcome of
a promise I had made to those who took part in the national programme
of cultural competence which I and a colleague had conducted last year.
However, the issue that has arisen about the purpose of the list must
make us all question our understanding of cultural competence. One of
the fundemental tenets of the Papadopoulos, Tilki and Taylor model of
cultural competence is that we are all cultural beings (I hope those
attending the programme will remember this). This means that our
discussions should not only focus on children, young people and families
from minority ethnic groups. Other major strands of our model are health
inequalities, challenging discrimination and empowering clients/users.
Which simply means that our take on cultural competence combines both
cultural values and practices with the social determinants of health and
the related societal structures (culture and structure...hope those
attending the programme will also remember this message). Now, you may
disagree with this explanation and that is fine. Whatever our
understanding one thing is for sure: the notion of cultural competence
is a relatively fluid one not a fixed one and a continuous debate on it
is very useful in our search for new and more effective ways in
providing sensitive caring to the services users.
The other important thing to state is that the list is not for nurse or
about nursing only. It is about all the providers of CAMHS services! The
list's current members include clinical psychologists, therapist of
different kinds, nurses, academics, managers, etc.
Bearing in mind the list's membership and the explanation about the
focus of the list, it is my belief that the issues we can discuss are
endless. I find it difficult to identify anything that has been posted
on the list as irrelevant to its focus. Take for example the issue of
listening to the 'child's voice'. The discussion around this and by
implication the discussion around challenging the 'experts' is relevant
to cultural competence. Perhaps discussants may try and link their
contributions to the list's focus in more transparent ways. Therefore I
believe that the lists is serving the purpose for which it was
originally established.
I hope my intervention has helped.
Warm regards,
Rena.
Professor (I)Rena Papadopoulos,
Head of Research Centre for Transcultural Studies in Health,
Chair, School Ethics Committee,
Editor-in-Chief Journal of Health, Social and Environmental Issues,
Programme Leader, MSc in European Nursing,
School of Health and Social Sciences, Middlesex University,
10 Highgate Hill, London N19 5LW,
Tel: 02084116626 Fax: 02084116106
Why not visit our centre website on:
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/rctsh/
WHY NOT ENROL ON OUR NEW AND INNOVATIVE WEB-BASED (PARTLY) MASTERS IN
EUROPEAN NURSING. GO TO
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/rctsh/eu_masters_in_nursing.htm
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You can obtain a discounted copy of my new book 'Transcultural Health
and Social Care: Development of Culturally Competent Practitioners.
Churchill Livingstone Elsevier' from this website:
http://www.nurseprint.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?CR=86&PR=2643
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