Cross-cultural medical education: can patient-centered cultural competency training be effective in non-Western countries?
BACKGROUND
No evidence addresses the effectiveness of patient-centered cultural competence training in non-Western settings.


OBJECTIVE
To examine whether a patient-centered cultural competency curriculum improves medical students' skills in eliciting the patients' perspective and exploring illness-related social factors.


METHODS
Fifty-seven medical students in Taiwan were randomly assigned to either the control (n = 27) or one of two intervention groups: basic (n = 15) and extensive (n = 15). Both intervention groups received two 2-hour patient-centered cultural competency workshops. In addition, the extensive intervention group received a 2-hour practice session. The control group received no training.


RESULTS
At the end of the clerkship, all students were evaluated with an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Students in the extensive intervention group scored significantly higher than the basic intervention and control groups in eliciting the patient's perspective (F = 18.38, p < 0.001, eta(2) = 0.40). Scores of both intervention groups were significantly higher than the control group in the exploring social factors (F = 6.66, p = 0.003, eta(2) = 0.20).


CONCLUSIONS
Patient-centered cultural competency training can produce improvement in medical students' cross-cultural communication skills in non-Western settings, especially when adequate practice is provided.
Ho
Ming-Jung
MJ
National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
Yao
Grace
G
Lee
Keng-Lin
KL
Beach
Mary Catherine
MC
Green
Alexander R
AR
D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D054521:Cultural Competency; D004493:Education; D004501:Education, Medical; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011361:Professional Competence; D013337:Students, Medical; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult
Acad Med. 2005 Jun;80(6):578-86
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