Cultural Liaison Role in NSW Public Health Service

This document discusses the role of a cultural liaison in the NSW Public Health Service and highlights the importance of social determinants, human rights, and cultural competence in health outcomes. It explores the barriers and facilitators to culturally safe and competent professional practice and explains how a strong understanding of health theory makes the candidate the best fit for the position.

Job Application For
Public Health Student
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1. What about your profession/discipline, makes you the best candidate for the role of ‘cultural
liaison’ within the NSW [Public Health] Health Service?
My profession and discipline that makes me fit and most suitable candidate for the role of
cultural liaison comprises of my Bachelors of Science degree in the field of Social Work along
with the 3-years’ experience as a social worker. Beside this, it has been also analysed and seen
by me through my knowledge and experience in the sector of cultural liaison that that my
profession not only involves engaging patients by also comprises of providing them with best
health care along with also assisting them in better personal development (Purnell, & Fenkl,
(2019). Thus, I used to develop and focus on my skills to improve my physical health, mental
health and social skills which makes me a best candidate for the role of ‘cultural liaison’ within
the NSW [public health] Health Service.
2. Demonstrate understanding of the theoretical relevance and relationship between social
determinants, human rights, cultural competence and health outcomes
Social determinants of the health are mainly related with and associated to the conditions
in which people are born, grow, live, work and age thus, have a vital relationship with the human
rights and cultural competence of an individual which lead a direct influence on the health
outcomes of an individuals. It has been analysed by me that the theoretical relevance and aspects
of social determinants comprises of many factors like socioeconomic status, education,
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neighbourhood along with the physical environment and employment level of an individual
which determine and forms a vital part of the social support networks and the prevailing human
rights and culture as well as determine the access to health care. Further, the social determinants
of the health and human rights of an individual basically describe the way where and how
someone live and thrive in its social and cultural aspects (Churchill, Ocloo, & Siawor-Robertson,
(2017). Thus, a close relationship exists between the social determinants, human rights, cultural
competence and health outcomes which tend to express the actual and optimal conditions of an
individual comprises of its housing and nutrition, along with the social, cultural, and spiritual
connections. Beside this, these components also comprise of access to education, health, and
social services along with presenting the ability to fully involved in the societies by means of
expression, mobility, association, work, and engagement with the formal political process.
Therefore, an analysis can be made out that social determinants, human rights, cultural
competence and health outcomes are different but yet overlapping measures and associated
languages in which a close relationship exits which is reflecting the human well-being and self-
actualization (Thompson, (2018).
3. Identify, with practical examples and links to your professional guidelines, how you would
support and/or enact the five key constructs of cultural competency within the NSW
[Public Health] Health Service
Cultural competence basically reflects the ability of an individual to understand and
effectively communicate with and interact with the people across the various cultures. Thus, in
practical life the Cultural competence is vital and important as it encompasses that an individual
need to be being aware of one's own world view and should aim and at work at developing
positive attitudes towards cultural differences by the way of gaining knowledge of different
cultural practices and world views (Campos, & Kim, (2017). The five key constructs of cultural
competency that would lead to support my services and work within NSW (in public health)
services comprises of cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, cultural encounters,
and cultural desire as the five constructs of cultural competence. An analysis can be made out
that the aspect of cultural awareness leads out a vital role in practical like while working within
NSW as cultural support worker for NSW as it would lead and support better understanding of
the differences between people belongs and come from other countries or other culture or
backgrounds.
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An analysis can be made that in practical life the people belong to different culture and
nations are having differences in their attitudes and values thus, the five key constructs of
cultural competency facilitates, support and enacts the role of cultural support worker by the way
of ensuring communicate professionally and effectively with clients, their families and key
stakeholders (Gründler, & Köllner, (2020). Further, cultural knowledge and skills also supports
the role of cultural worker in practical life as it leads to improved interpersonal competencies and
develop better knowledge about the cultural awareness and sensitivity in dealing with
clients/carers/ staff from diverse backgrounds. Further, it has been also observed that the five key
constructs of cultural competency are vital and plays an important role in supporting the cultural
worker role as it helps to collect race, ethnicity and language preference (REAL) data along with
proper identify and report disparities in health care sector. Beside this, in real life five key
constructs of cultural competency also provide culturally and linguistically competent care by a
cultural worker and support culturally competent disease management programs and increase
diversity and minority workforce pipelines which supports and enacts cultural competency
within the NSW in public health discipline and Health Service (Kirkham, Hoon, Rumbold, &
Moore, (2018).
4. Demonstrate knowledge of professional guidelines/policy and their relationship to cultural
safety
The professional guidelines and policy framework for a cultural support worker in public
health comprises of providing individualised and group support to different health context in
order to develop skills and community networks. The service and job guidelines of a cultural
support worker comprises of increasing community participation and connection by the way of
eliminating all form of inequalities and discrimination in public health care and support
improved quality of life for clients (Zangeneh, & Al-Krenawi, (2019). Thus, professional
guidelines of a cultural support workers is having a close relationship with the cultural safety
which focuses and emphasis on acknowledging the key barriers to clinical effectiveness which
are mainly arising from the inherent power of imbalance between provider and patient. Thus, the
close relationship and interaction in professional guidelines and concept of culture safety is there
as the professional guidelines of a cultural support worker aim at to provide support to clients
within the community in accordance with a documented support plan along with performing its
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duties in accordance with the relevant legislation and Standards for their profession to maintain
the cultural safety and integrity as a vital part of their profession.
Thus, an analysis can be made out that the professional guidelines of cultural support
worker comprises of facilitating the requirements of relevant legislation and industry standards,
and relevant legislation in accordance with registered profession. Thus, it reflects a close
relationship with cultural safety that seeks to achieve better care and effective public health by
the way of being aware of difference, considering power relationships along with implementing
reflective practice, in order to allow the patient to determine whether their clinical encounter is
safe and based on equality (Clay, (2017).
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the barriers and facilitators to culturally safe and competent
professional practice for both staff in your profession and health consumers
In providing culturally safe and competent professional practice, there are some barriers
that may be faced by me as a cultural support worker. Language is one of the barrier that affect
every stage of support and treatment. It can be the biggest impediment for family. At the time of
providing care and support services to the patient, language barriers sometimes make it difficult
to understand what the patient want to say. Apart from this, the another challenge is cultural
differences as each individual belongs to different culture and have different values, beliefs and
preferences. This makes it difficult to ensure culturally safe and competent professional practice.
However, there are some facilitators that help me in providing culturally safe practices. This
includes effective communication strategy (Lott, & Abendroth, (2020). Using simple language
and words, speaking slowly, using visual aids etc. are the ways which help people in
understanding what I am saying. This help in eliminating the language barrier and make the
communication effective. Apart from this, learning about different cultures assist in eliminating
the cultural barriers. It is an important facilitator to culturally competent practices.
6. Given your disciplinary expertise, understanding of cultural competence and cultural safety
demonstrate how your understanding of health theory (e.g., social determinants, human
rights, etc.) makes you the best person for this role/position at the NSW [Public Health]
Health Service?
My understanding of cultural safety and cultural competence depicts that my
understanding of health theory makes me the best person for the role of cultural support worker
at NSW Health Service. My understanding regarding cultural safety assist in providing effective
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and safe support practices to the individual through effective decision making. It helped me in
proactively developing as well as maintaining therapeutic relationships with clients by respect,
collaboration, participation and meeting individual needs (Voronka, (2017). Apart from this, my
understanding makes me able to deal effectively to people with diverse backgrounds. Moreover,
as a Cultural Liaison in NSW, it makes me able to liaise with relevant religious and cultural
associations and organisations within local community that assist in providing the support
services effectively to the clients. Thus, my understanding makes me the best person for this
position.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Purnell, L. D., & Fenkl, E. A. (2019). Transcultural diversity and health care. In Handbook for
Culturally Competent Care(pp. 1-6). Springer, Cham.
Churchill, S.A., Ocloo, J.E. & Siawor-Robertson, D., (2017). Ethnic diversity and health
outcomes. Social Indicators Research, 134(3), pp.1077-1112.
Campos, B. & Kim, H.S., (2017). Incorporating the cultural diversity of family and close
relationships into the study of health. American Psychologist, 72(6), p.543.
Gründler, K., & Köllner, S. (2020). Culture, diversity, and the welfare state. Journal of
Comparative Economics, 48(4), 913-932.
Zangeneh, M., & Al-Krenawi, A. (Eds.). (2019). Culture, Diversity and Mental Health-
Enhancing Clinical Practice. Springer Nature.
Clay, D. L. (2017). Culture and diversity in research and practice. Handbook of pediatric
psychology, 81.
Lott, Y., & Abendroth, A. K. (2020). The non-use of telework in an ideal worker culture: why
women perceive more cultural barriers. Community, Work & Family, 23(5), 593-611.
Voronka, J. (2017). Turning mad knowledge into affective labor: the case of the peer support
worker. American Quarterly, 69(2), 333-338.
Kirkham, R., Hoon, E., Rumbold, A., & Moore, V. (2018). Understanding the role of Australian
Aboriginal maternal infant care workers: Bringing a cultural dimension to a critique of
the ideal worker concept. Community, Work & Family, 21(4), 393-409.
Thompson, M. (2018). Cultural theory. Routledge.
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