Learning Through Academic Collaborations In/With the East: North American Adult Education Scholars’ Insights

2021 ◽  
pp. 074171362110501
Author(s):  
Qi Sun ◽  
Haijun Kang

Applying Culture and Appreciative Education lenses, this qualitative study, eliciting detailed descriptions, examines six North American adult and higher education scholars’ lived learning experiences and insights gained from their academic collaborations in and with the East. Our findings indicate that participants hold unique international collaboration experiences with commonalities. Most participants experienced language and cultural barriers in real-time, on-site collaborations that they would not have considered otherwise without these experiences. Many differences made them realize the fundamentals for intercultural collaborations. They consciously learned to reposition with appreciative mindsets and co-construct goals and solutions with counterparts. All participants indicated that transnational contexts enable profound reflective and authentic learning, renewed understandings of cross-cultural sensitivity, and different ways of thinking and doing. This study demonstrates that international collaborations promote adult learning with self-awareness for a new dimension of global learning and cultural competency in the internationalization of adult education.

Author(s):  
Clyde W Yancy ◽  
Jill A Foster ◽  
Gregory D Salinas ◽  
Andrew R Sanchez ◽  
Linda L Casebeer

Background: The CDC advocates improved physician cultural competence to reduce disparities in cardiovascular (CV) health. Cultural competence may be particularly important to establish an effective therapeutic alliance to mitigate CV risk. This study sought to better understand physician elements of cultural competence that can be targeted to improve cardiovascular health in minority populations. Methods: Family physicians, internists, cardiologists and neurologists practicing in the southern US were queried in this survey. Participants assessed their cross-cultural knowledge, skills, attitudes, and training using 5-point scales. Office managers of respondents were then invited to complete a separate survey assessing compliance with 3 Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards relevant to the office setting. Results: Among 697 respondents, 57% considered sociocultural issues important in patient interactions. Prior training was reported by 76%, but 18% considered multicultural health training of little importance. On average, self-assessed knowledge (10 items) and skill (15 items) were moderate. More than 3 of 4 physicians reported little or no knowledge of CLAS standards; more than half reported limited knowledge of traditional healing. Striking differences were noted among physicians of different racial groups with blacks consistently reporting greater self-awareness, knowledge and skill compared to whites (p< .01). Significant differences did not emerge between primary care and specialist physicians. A subset of 124 office practices participated in the CLAS assessment. Though physicians were largely unaware of CLAS standards, compliance was 98% for Standard 1 (culturally appropriate care), 67% for Standard 2 (workforce diversity) and 25% for Standard 3 (staff CLAS training). Conclusions: Physicians and their office staff have modest levels of cultural sensitivity as well as moderate cross-cultural knowledge and skills, but deficits, especially among physicians and particularly as a function of physician race, are present in important areas. Building upon this foundation to achieve greater proficiency in cross cultural care may improve the quality of care and reduce disparities in CV health.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 837-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gøril Voldnes ◽  
Kjell Grønhaug

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buyers and sellers in cross-cultural business relationships manage cultural differences to ensure functional, successful business relationships. Failure to consider specific cultural issues may lead to the failure of business ventures crossing national borders. To succeed in today’s global business market, it is critically important to understand and manage cultural differences. Adapting to each other’s cultures is one way of managing cultural differences between business actors. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, explorative approach examining both sides of the exchange dyad was adopted to obtain insight into adaptation as perceived by both buyer and seller. Findings – The results of this study indicate that mainly Norwegian sellers adapt to the Russian culture and way of conducting business. This is explained by power asymmetry between partners, as well as cultural barriers and lack of cultural sensitivity from the Norwegian partners. Still, the business relationships function well. Practical implications – Knowledge of and applying strategies for managing cultural differences should be helpful for business managers engaged or planning to engage in business ventures with Russia and Norway – especially those doing so for the first time. Originality/value – The study provides new and important information about West-East business relationships and how to manage cultural differences in cross-cultural business relationships. The study shows that business relationships can function well in spite of the absence of some factors previously found to have detrimental effects on these relationships. In addition, the study investigates both sides of the buyer-seller dyad, which is a limitation in previous studies of adaptation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Mareno ◽  
Patricia L. Hart ◽  
Lewis VanBrackle

Background and Purpose: Growing diversity in health care requires culturally competent care. Assessing nurses’ cultural competence is the first step in designing cultural competency education. The Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire (CCCQ) is one instrument to assess nurses’ cultural competence. Methods: The psychometric properties and factor structure of the revised CCCQ-PRE (CCCQ-PRE-R) for nurses was examined. Results: A 1-factor solution was noted for the knowledge and skills subscales. A 2-factor solution was discovered for the comfort and awareness subscales: differentiating between comfort in dealing with positive and negative cross-cultural encounters/situations, and differentiating between importance awareness and self-awareness. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were high for all subscales. Conclusions: The findings support the use of the revised CCCQ-PRE-R with nurses. Further testing in larger, more diverse nursing populations is warranted.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Wall ◽  
Jeremy J. Davis ◽  
Jacqueline H. Remondet Wall

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