Cultural Competency: Non-Verbal Communication in Healthcare Practices

This assignment delves into the critical role of cultural communication in healthcare, emphasizing the significance of non-verbal cues in establishing effective therapeutic relationships with patients from diverse backgrounds. It highlights the importance of understanding and adapting to varying cultural norms regarding eye contact, silence, touch, body posture, and the involvement of family members in decision-making. The assignment underscores how healthcare professionals' awareness of these cultural nuances can significantly impact patient care, fostering respect, trust, and improved communication. The student reflects on how the course has enhanced their cultural knowledge and competency, enabling them to provide more culturally sensitive care. The assignment also references scholarly articles that support the importance of cultural competence in healthcare practices and patient satisfaction.

Running head: CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Before the initiation of the course, I was of the opinion that in order to provide culturally
competent care to patients, it is extremely important to develop cultural knowledge and cultural
awareness to develop care services that align with their expectations. I also had the knowledge
that I would need to develop skills to understand and speak some of the languages of the
common cultures and ethnicity people who get admitted to the healthcare wards. However, I was
not aware of the importance of non-verbal communication mediums that also play an important
role in developing effective therapeutic communication with the patients.
The courses helped me learn about the various aspects of the non-verbal communication
medium that should be an integral part of the care services provided to culturally different
patients. One of the most common non-verbal communications that makes difference during
development of rapport with the patient is the eye contact (Lorie et al., 2017). Whereas the
western culture is supportive of steady eye contact with patients as that is considered to be the
medium to show confidence and acceptance between the patient and nurse, there are many other
cultures who consider them to be a medium of disrespect and rudeness. Therefore, when I would
be treating patients from a varied background like that of the native Maori background, I would
be very careful of not establishing steady eye contact with them. This would help them to feel
respected and that it would ensure smoother communication period between the professionals
and the patients. Similar another aspect of non-verbal communication is maintaining of silence.
The westerners do not like silence while they interact with others (Govere & Govere, 2016).
They immediately try to fill the gaps of silence but such approach is not liked by many people
from other cultures. The cultural group of the aboriginals in Australia can be taken as an example
in this discussion. I have searched many literatures which have shown that aboriginals prefer ling
gaps of silence in their communication and expect it to be respected. If any professionals try to

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fill the gap, this would not only exhibit cultural incompetency but the patients might feel
disrespected. When I conducted extensive research on the topic of nonverbal communication in
the healthcare services, another important medium of non-verbal communication is touch. The
westerners prefer try to rapport with patients by gentle pats and compassionate touches to ensure
patients that they are present for their needs and requirements and to care for them (Hasan et al.,
2017). While the patients with western background are supportive of such attributes of non-
verbal communication, people from many cultures and religions do not entertain touches from
strangers. For example, people with Islam faith and from Islamic countries tend to feel very
uncomfortable though such pats and touches. Even they are found to be sensitive to presence of
opposite genders in the same room in the healthcare wards and strictly avoid touches and pats
from professionals of opposite genders. Hence, the healthcare professionals need to be well-
aware of such non-verbal communication techniques and medium to ensure that they do not get
offended and disrespected in the healthcare services provided by the healthcare professionals
(Dao et al., 2017).
After the completion of the course, I have also been able to learn about the various
attributes of non-verbal communication that can help in making big differences to the care
services that I would provide. One of them is the maintaining of proper body posture. I have
recognized that the body posture exhibited by the nursing professionals can influence the
therapeutic relationship that they want to establish with the patients. It had been found by
researchers that nurses need to be calm and composed in their body posture and that they should
be respectful to the patients in ways by which the person does not feel powerless. Expression of
empathy and compassion while communicating with patients are also very crucial. When
patients feel that the professionals are genuinely interested in their healthcare services and that

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they feel about the suffering and pain of the patients, it results in better rapport development with
patients. It should thereby be remembered by nurses that the body posture maintained by the
nurses should be such that is aligns with cultural norms, customs and traditions of culture of the
patients. Apart from them, western culture is individualistic in nature but there are many cultures
who respect the presence of kin and families in their decision making and communication
procedures (Eaves & Leathers, 2017). Hence, nursing professionals should be culturally
knowledge and culturally aware of such traditions and accordingly maintain such traditions in
their care services. This would make the patients feel respected and satisfied as well. The topics
had helped me to become culturally knowledgeable and I could ensure that I can provide better
culturally competent care to patients now.

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References:
Dao, D. K., Goss, A. L., Hoekzema, A. S., Kelly, L. A., Logan, A. A., Mehta, S. D., ... &
DeLisser, H. M. (2017). Integrating theory, content, and method to foster critical
consciousness in medical students: a comprehensive model for cultural competence
training. Academic medicine, 92(3), 335-344.
Eaves, M., & Leathers, D. G. (2017). Successful nonverbal communication: Principles and
applications.,Routledge.
Govere, L., & Govere, E. M. (2016). How effective is cultural competence training of
healthcare providers on improving patient satisfaction of minority groups? A systematic
review of literature. Worldviews on Evidence
‐Based Nursing, 13(6), 402-410.
Hasan, S., Tarazi, H., & Halim Hilal, D. A. (2017). Enhancing Student Communication Skills
Through Arabic Language Competency and Simulated Patient Assessments. American
journal of pharmaceutical education, 81(4), 76.
Barker, G. G. (2016). Cross-cultural perspectives on intercultural communication
competence. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 45(1), 13-30.
Lorie, A., Reinero, D. A., Phillips, M., Zhang, L., & Riess, H. (2017). Culture and nonverbal
expressions of empathy in clinical settings: A systematic review. Patient Education and
Counseling, 100(3), 411-424.

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