CHAPER 12: INTERVIEWING NOTES

“Cultural Competence” ability to understand, accept, appreciate, and

work with individuals of cultures other than
your own; culture can include ethnicity, sexual
orientation, gender; must avoid stereotypes,
bias, prejudic, classism, racism, ageism,
homophobia, sexism, etc.

Cultural Humility the more you know about a particular culture

the more you realize you don’t know

Various beliefs about Upset in the bodies balance or harmony:

Disease etiology
1.)Yin/Yang: East Asia
2.) Hot/Cold: Central America
3.) Body, mind, spirit(aka Ayurvedic): India

Soul Loss: Native America

Spirit Possession: Ethiopia

The Evil Eye: Mediterranean, Middle East

Challenge or punishment from God: Christian

fundamentalism

Understanding what idioms or phrases may be taken literally or

mis
Words mean understood by someone who does not speak
English very well(e.g. Are you getting cold
feet?”)

Using “positive and “negative”; may be

confused that negative does not always mean
bad

Direct Eye contact may be embarrassing or

threatening in some cultures

Touching may be therapeutic, or in some

cases culturally inappropriate

Disrespectful words: first name basis in

some cases, “honey”. **address patient by
title and surname
Nonverbal direct eye contact, touching(even shaking
hands,
Communication sitting on the patient’s bed)

What to say 1.) determine their level of fluency “ Do you

speak English?” “Do you understand?”

2.) ask the patient how they prefer to be

addressed. “ May I call you by your first
name?” May I call you Dorothy or do you prefer
Mrs. Kaaufman?

3.) avoid shaking hands if cultural prohibition

exists. “May I shake your hand?”

4.) Reassure patient of confidentiality

5.) Set a speech rate, tone nad style that

promote understanding nad show respect to
the patient. “Let me know if I go to fast or if
there is something you don’t understand?”

6.) Allow the patient to describe the problem in

their own terms, the nuse the patient’s
terminology to fram more descriptive
questions. “Tell me in your own words what
happened first.” You say you prayed ot God
when you had this pain in your chest. Was that
because it was so bad that you felt you were
going to dye?

7.) Avoid culturally or personally sensitive

topics until later in the interview when both
parties are more comfortable. “You said that
you have this paindown below. May I ask you
some questions about your menstrual periods
and sexual relations to help me figure out what
is causing it?”

8.) Check frequently to ensure patient is

understanding

Common mistranslated
Terms Allergy: may think you mean does the
medicine make you sick; to distinguish
between a side effect and a true allergy ask
about specific allergic manifestations “Does it
cause a rash?”

Anxiety, nervousness: use a variety of terms to

refer to both physical and psychological
manifestations “Ask about fears, racing heart
beats, sweats, etc”

Blood tests: “taking some blood” may be

frightening to understand. Be explicit about
amount and purpose of the tests

Dizziness: distinguish light headedness from

vertigo: make sure interpreter knows

Fever: