Elephants in the room

Naming the Elephants in the Room: Reflections on working in a multicultural dementia environment

Cultural competence is an emerging field, with efforts to define and implement the principles of cultural competence still ongoing. While cultural competence is becoming increasingly necessary for work, home, community and social lives some questions need to be asked.

Can we ever measure something like multicultural competence? And how can we get there?

It is cultural competence at the individual level that matters to people with dementia and their families. Reaching a state of cultural competence will not only require gaining new knowledge and awareness, but also improved communication skills, and possibly a shift in our attitudes to cultural differences.

Issues addressed in this presentation include; what is cultural competence and how is it achieved? and what are the challenges to effective cross-cultural communication?

A WADTSC seminar presentation by Mihaela Safta, Former Project Officer Multicultural Communities, Alzheimer’s Australia WA on 16 November 2011.

View the video presentation

Download the presentation (PowerPoint as pdf file – 650 Kb)