This training package is addressed to lecturers and trainers in the field of paediatrics on how to assist paediatric undergraduate and resident students in developing and consolidating their soft skills for improving the quality of paediatric services.
Communicating in a multilingual environment
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3.2 Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication can present an additional barrier for successful communication in a multicultural setting. Shaking one’s head in one culture can be expression of affirmation, while in a different culture it denotes rejection or negation. Direct eye contact can be seen as a gesture of aggression in one culture and a sign of respect in another. In some cultures, touching someone is seen as an expression of care, warmth and affection. Other cultures view it as an infringement on one’s privacy. In the Native American community, touching the head of another person is avoided at all costs, a practice which
includes touching the head of children. In Jewish and Islamic cultures, boundaries of touch between members of the opposite sex should be respected rigorously by tending physicians to avoid embarrassment and culturally charged situations (Campbell, 2006). In situations where it is impossible for the medical practitioner to know about these cultural nuances beforehand, “tolerance of ambiguity”, i.e. the ability to perceive culturally ambiguous situations as desirable, challenging and interesting (McLain, 1993), will guarantee that the practitioner deals with the situation with the measure of openness required to provide a continuous level of quality medical care and treatment.
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