Question

Discuss how the Purnell Model can be applied when working with different cultures in order to become a more culturally competent health care provider.

Answer 1

The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence

Dr. Larry Purnell has developed a model that anyone, including teachers, can use to maximise and utilise the many different cultures and communities that are present in the classroom of modern day. The Purnell model explains that culture is the unconscious way in which we have learnt in our families develop our behaviours, values , customs and characteristics of thought that guide our decision-making and how we view the world around us.

Cultural competence is the process of becoming aware of our culture, and how that awareness is communicated to the rest of the world. The Purnell Cultural Competence Model is a sequence of circles or rings that each contain the development of this cultural awareness and how it continues to expand from the family to the entire world.

The model's first ring holds the person up. The model 's second ring keeps family. The Model 's third ring holds the community. The model's outermost ring is binding the global community together. Within each model ring there are also different subsections that account for changes and evolution in the cultural competence of the person, including occupation, religion , education, Politics, race and gender , and nationality. All these different subsections and circles continue until the individual is culturally competent or conscious according to the model.
Person
In the delivery of culturally competent treatment, individuals must be respected, since each person has its own sense of self, values , beliefs and ideas. Since each person has their own distinct way to relate to their environment, they form social relationships and interact with others within their community and wider society. The beliefs and values of individuals will affect how they wish to be treated.

Family
The relationship between a person and his / her family is important to recognise in the provision of treatment. This is because each person may want to consider / explain differently who constitutes the family, and thus the degree to which they want to include family members in their treatment can fluctuate.

Community
Community is used as a metaparadigm in the model, as it is in the provision of culturally competent care; the position of a person within a group must be discussed. By recognising the sense of community of a patient, care professionals understand that various cultures may have divergent beliefs, ethics and priorities.

Global society
Global society relates to observing the world as an interconnected whole that consists of a range of individuals from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Concepts that are present and influence this unified world include globalisation forces and the rapid growth of communication technologies that impact upon how the global society is maintained. It is critical to consider a person's place within the diverse world environment as driving factors on the global culture, not only humanity, but also the world outlook of individuals can have an influence.

Cultural Competence and the Teacher

The Purnell model is used in many different fields and organisations, but it is most closely linked to the healthcare profession and nurses. Despite this reality, teachers, particularly teachers with a culturally diverse classroom, can still use the tenets of cultural competence in their classrooms.

For those in the healthcare profession, cultural competence is crucial so that they understand and value the cultural differences of their patients, so that they do not allow their own personal values to interfere with the level of treatment they provide to those they treat. If healthcare practitioners need to be culturally sensitive to their patients in order to provide them with the best possible quality of treatment free of prejudice, then teachers also need to be culturally sensitive to their students in order to provide them with the best possible education.

Teachers may also assist their students by modelling their cultural competence in their own process of being culturally sensitive and competent. Cultural knowledge is to consider your own emotions , feelings and perceptions so that you are aware of how they affect your relationships with others.

This element of the Purnell model is crucial to bear in mind for teachers when working with their students. To model students ' cultural competence, teachers should be mindful of their own feelings so as not to convey any prejudice on their studentsAs students find their own way through the Purnell model, teachers play an important role in supporting this process, but only if they know themselves culturally.

Cultural Sensitivity and Stereotyping
Cultural awareness and stereotyping are also components of the Purnell model, and teachers of culturally diverse classrooms should use this. Cultural sensitivity is both a verbal and nonverbal language which displays a person's appreciation and understanding for another person's diversity. Diversity is all our differences whether they are based on race, faith, nationality, sex or age. Stereotyping is when we use our interactions to establish biases and cultural insensitivity towards different populations.