Cultivating Cultural Humility

Abstract

As the population becomes more globalized and the United States becomes more diverse, faculty have the responsibility to include cultural humility into teaching agendas. Cultural humility is more than cultural competence; it is a lifelong process of self-reflection and awareness of bias, a thirst for learning about another’s cultural attitudes, values, and beliefs, transforming perceptions through exploration outside one’s comfort zone, and having respect and empathy for others (Hughes et al., 2020; McDaniel, 2021). In nursing, assisting students to cultivate cultural humility is not only an ethical responsibility but essential in learning to create caring patient-centered relationships built upon trust, empathy, respect, and understanding (American Nurses Association, 2015; Carter et al., 2021; Hughes et al., 2020). Nursing faculty created an interactive, team-based, active learning activity to explore various cultures and subpopulations that can be used with any discipline. After selecting a topic of interest, students completed database searches for scholarly articles, appraised the literature, and developed informational handouts to disseminate during student-led discussions. Active learning teaching strategies facilitate student engagement, create opportunities for deeper levels of understanding for students, and address the diverse learning styles of students (Billings & Halstead, 2016). This activity allowed students and faculty to increase individual knowledge and reflect on misunderstandings of other cultures and subpopulations. While nursing students gained knowledge on providing more culturally responsive patient-centered care; more broadly, students participating in this type of activity learn to organize thoughts, create a presentation, and deliver new information in a culturally sensitive and respectful manner. As a result of this learning activity, students learned how to utilize resources to learn about other cultures and be mindful of others’ needs. For students, this experience is a steppingstone to becoming global citizens in a diverse society. For faculty, this is an active learning strategy that is easily adaptable to the learning concepts within their disciplines. By sharing this activity with others, our goal is to encourage faculty to utilize active learning strategies that enhance an appreciation for diversity within all communities. Additionally, concepts of teamwork and collaboration, effective communication, and critical thinking are reinforced. References American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. American Nurses Association. Billings, D. M. & Halstead, J. A. (2016). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (5th ed.). Elsevier. Carter, A., Davis, S., Pierce, A., Seibert, S., & Butler, R. (2021). Developing cultural humility among prelicensure nursing students. Nurse Educator. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNE.0000000000001077 Hughes, V., Delva, S., Nkimbeng, M., Spaudling, E., Turkson-Ocran, R. A., Cudjoe, J., Ford, A., Rushton, C., D’Aoust, R., & Han, H. R. (2020). Not missing the opportunity: Strategies to promote cultural humility among future nursing faculty. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(2020), 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2019.06.005 McDaniel, V. P. (2021). Cultural humility in nursing building the bridge to best practices. Virginia Nurse Today, 29(2), 1-14. https://www.virginianurses.com