UCM05, UCM44 y UCM53 como inhibidores de la división celular bacteriana

1 That simply by virtue of membership in a cultural group, a person will be able to deal with others of that population in a culturally competent way. Not true.

If such persons have assimilated the values and communication styles of the host culture as their own, they may be even less tolerant of traditional values or styles than others. Equally important, they may not be trusted by their own communities if they have internalized host values.

2 That a member of a minority community who works in a mainstream agency is able to represent his or her community. Not true.

Unless they are respected leaders within their communities, they may not be considered by their communities to be appropriate representatives. Respected elders often provide leadership within ethnic communities. However, the elders often have no role of visibility or authority outside their communities, and must be "found." In order to have an effective relationship with the ethnic community, trust and respect from the elders must be gained first. 3 That a single member of "the" minority community can represent the whole. Not true.

For example, there really is no "African community", rather, African communities. Individuals from the Sudan, Liberia, South Africa, and Somalia, for example, would not consider themselves to be from the "same" community. This holds for many ‘communities’ which we assume are homogenous, such as the ‘Asian community’ or the Indigenous community.

4 That an agency should choose a representative from a minority community to represent that community's interests to the agency. Not true.

Agencies should not presume to select representatives for ethnic communities. Each community already has a leadership structure. Rather, the agency's task is to identify the structure and then find a common ground for communication, working with existing leadership in the particular community.

5 That, because there are so many ethnic communities, it is not feasible, or cost-effective to have working relationships with them. Not true.

Selecting a minority representative will not work, but selecting a minority liaison can work. The role of the liaison is not to represent a community, but rather to understand the community's leadership structure, to win the trust and respect of that leadership, and to develop a working relationship between the community and the agency. In order to do this successfully, the liaison must be multi-culturally competent.

6 That the Anglo or dominant culture is the culture, not simply a culture. Not true.

This is one of the most difficult myths, not from a logical point of view, but because of invisible assumptions and expectations. For most people reared as ‘mainstream’ Australians, their assumptions and expectations are presumed, unconsciously, to be "human" assumptions and expectations. If we see someone speaking with a certain pitch of voice and gestures, we assume that the person is agitated or angry; we rarely conceive the thought that we might be misinterpreting their behaviour because of our own cultural norms. If someone else seems indifferent to a suggestion, again, we think that we understand what we see. Our culturally based assumptions and interpretations are so completely ingrained that we experience them spontaneously and invisibly.

Members of all cultures tend to internalize and become unaware of their own norms. For members of a dominant group this condition is exaggerated; they are usually surrounded by people and institutions based on their set of values. Thus that system is constantly reinforced, and they have less exposure to contrasting values and behaviours than do members of minority groups.

7 That the key differences in culture are lifestyle, language, foods, and similar visible evidence of diversity, often taught in "diversity appreciation" programs. Not true.

The key differences, the "trust and respect breakers," are not generally the obvious differences. It is often the invisible differences in expectations, values, goals, and communication styles that cause cultural differences to be misinterpreted as personal violations of trust or respect.

8 That cultural competence is something we each pick up, with time, by working with persons who are different from ourselves. Not true.

important to work with the existing leadership structure of the community to develop a mutually acceptable method of collecting valid information, and disseminating important information.

10 That written information is more reliable, valid, and substantial than verbal information.

This value is ethnocentric, and not shared by many cultures. If the person gathering the information is writing down what is said, this often reduces credibility with minority cultures. Likewise it may not be best to try to provide information in written form.

Source (adapted) - Evaluation and Development Institute (2007) Toolkit for Cross-Cultural Collaboration. Available - http://www.awesomelibrary.org/multiculturaltoolkit-myths.html

Appendix 10 - Making Focus Groups Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate

Focus groups are a useful research strategy to elicit knowledge, experiences and feedback from consumers and communities from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Factoring relevant cultural and linguistic considerations into focus group planning and implementation is critical for success. This resource outlines an approach to focus groups which involves using bilingual facilitators with a group of participants with a common language and cultural background.

Before You Begin

• National groupings are diverse. Use preferred language or dialect, ethnicity and cultural background to identify the participants you want to target. These characteristics will also need to be shared with the facilitator that you select.

• Identify what resources you can access to assist you. These might include bilingual workers in your organisation, demographic data on CALD communities, partnerships with ethno-specific and community organisations, community leaders, networks, existing research and funding opportunities.

• Plan for how you will incorporate diversity variables such as gender, age, English language proficiency, participants’ literacy in their preferred language and English, education, migration history, refugee and settlement experiences and acculturation issues into the group composition. These may have an impact on group dynamics, participation levels and research outcomes.

• Be familiar with the levels of community infrastructure and existing networks in your selected target group. This could influence how you approach the community and how you recruit facilitators and participants.

• Establish how much funding is available to support the participation of both facilitators and participants. Reimbursement for the contribution of the community is important.

• Gain appropriate ethics approval.

Recruiting and Supporting Facilitators

• Locate the most appropriate bilingual facilitator. They could be sourced from your organisation, from ethno-specific or community organisations or from the community. Be aware that some individuals with language skills may come from rival ethnic groups, and be inappropriate facilitators.

• Where no experienced facilitators are available, be prepared to provide professional development, mentoring and support. This could include facilitation training, briefings, relevant literature or resources. It is vital that facilitators understand project objectives.

• Facilitators need good interpersonal skills to support interaction between participants.

Recruiting Participants

• Work with the facilitator to recruit participants for the focus group that meet the purposes of the research. It is important to establish rapport and trust in order to elicit participants’ understanding of the purpose of the focus group and to gain their consent and full participation.

• Ensure participants receive oral and written information in their preferred language indicating the purpose, size of the group, how it will work, permission to record the discussions, potential outcomes, uses and ownership of information, a confidentiality clause, a consent form which includes their right to withdrawal of consent, the feedback process and how reimbursement will occur.

Interpreting and Translations

• Interpreters can be utilised to interpret the proceedings of the group for workers who do not speak the language it is being conducted in. Bilingual facilitators should not undertake this role in addition to facilitation.

• Consider how cultural differences are expressed through different communication styles such as attitudes towards conflict, approaches to completing tasks, decision making styles, attitudes towards disclosure and confidentiality, gender and age issues, and issues of individual or group rights. These may affect the group process and outcomes.

• It may be culturally relevant to take time to establish a rapport or it could be more appropriate to get straight down to business.

• Ensure culturally appropriate refreshments are available. • The facilitator also needs to:

- Brief other workers on specific cultural protocols.

- Exercise empathy for pre-migration and or refugee experiences.

- Understand that participants may have little or no previous experience in social research processes. - Avoid acronyms and jargon.

- Allow extra time for interpreting and scribing.

Verifying and Disseminating Information to Participants

• Re-convene the focus group to verify the documented information and to check the areas of recommendation. This is particularly important to ensure the integrity of the participants’ input.

• Communicate how recommendations will be actioned in the community.

• Make the recommendations, results or the executive summary available to the participants in the relevant community language(s) and in a timely manner to enhance relationship building with the community.

• Identify a range of ways of disseminating the focus group outcomes such as through ethnic media, ethno- specific or community organisations and community venues.

• If you are launching the findings ensure participants are invited and interpreters are available.

Source (adapted) - Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health (2005) Consumer Participation and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. Available -

http://www.ceh.org.au/docs/Resources/Consumer%20Participation/Consumer%20Participation%20and%20CALD%20Communities. pdf

Appendix 11 - Focus Group Topic Guide