Health communication encompasses interpersonal and mass communication activities aimed at enhancing the health of individuals and populations. Skills in understanding and applying information about health issues are crucial to this process and can have a substantial impact on health behaviours and health outcomes (Ishikawa & Kiuchi, 2010). Improved Healthcare Literacy may enhance the ability and motivation of individuals to find solutions to both personal and public health problems, and these skills could be used to address various health problems throughout life. The process underpinning Healthcare communication literacy involves empowerment, one of the major goals of health communication (Ishikawa & Kiuchi, 2010).
How was health communicated in different cultures before today’s globalisation?
Health was communicated differently across cultures before globalization. In some cultures the patient was not made aware of their condition for a variety of reasons.
Communication occurs at many different interdependent hierarchical levels of analysis (Kreps, 1988b). Multicultural communication in health care can be examined at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, organizational and societal levels of analysis, as depicted in the Hierarchical Levels of Multicultural Communication Model (Kreps and Kunimoto, 1994).
Culture has strong influences on both encoding and decoding processes because culture provides us with guidelines for creating appropriate messages for different situations and audiences and also provides us with logics for interpreting and understanding different messages (Kreps and Kunimoto, 1994). As a healthcare language interpreter, I facilitate communication between predominantly foreign-born patients and medical professionals, who may also be foreign-born and educated. A healthcare environment which is described by Kreps and Kunimoto as a cultural melting pot.
I understand that effective health communication must consider the diverse cultural orientations within the healthcare system, including national, regional, ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, occupational, generational and health status differences. As a language interpreter, I apply a “two-eyed seeing” approach. This approach involves understanding and integrating multiple cultural perspectives simultaneously to facilitate effective communication. My proficiency in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese allows me to gain deeper insights into various cultural worldviews, enhancing my ability to interpret not just words, but also the meanings and contexts across cultures for patients seeking healthcare.
For example, I recently assisted a French-speaking, elderly Asian patient from Mauritius who required a healthcare team for her condition: a doctor of Indian origin, a resident doctor in training from Nigeria and a nurse from the Philippines.
This case highlights the importance of health communication, as healthcare participants must share relevant information and coordinate effectively to achieve their health care goals. Developing interprofessional respect, coordination and egalitarianism can help the health care team fully utilize group member expertise and work together to effectively deliver care (Gifford, 1983). The greater the number of diverse groups one can communicate with successfully to achieve results, gain attitude change or reinforcement and skill acquisition or behaviour change, the greater the reduction of uncertainty and stress (Gudykungst, 1988, p. 39).
Medical professionals should also be culturally sensitive to the patient’s needs. This case exemplifies the importance of understanding not only the surface aspects of the “iceberg” model of multicultural influences on communication but also the hidden cultural influences which are not as apparent and which include: socioeconomic status, occupation, health condition, religion, sexual preference, group membership, educational background and political orientation (Kreps and Kunimoto, 1994). These hidden cultural factors can have major influences on communication in health care contexts.
The multicultural influences on modern health care are not just limited to differences in nationality, sex, age, educational background, or occupation of health care consumers and providers but they may also act as cultural barriers to effective health communication (Kreps and Kunimoto, 1994). Developing effective multicultural relations between culturally unique participants in the modern health care system is a prerequisite to effective health care delivery (Howe-Murphy, Ross, Tseng, & Hartwig, 1989; McNeil, 1990).
Reference:
Ishikawa, H., & Kiuchi, T. (2010). Health literacy and health communication. BioPsychoSocial medicine, 4, 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0759-4-18
Kreps, G.L., & Kunimoto, E.N. (1994). Effective communication in multicultural health care settings. Thousand Oaks, CA:
At Real World Dialogue (RWD), we help mission-driven organizations build inclusive communication and leadership practices that value every mind. Through consulting, training, and digital strategy, we create spaces where diversity of thought thrives — because inclusion isn’t just good ethics; it’s good business.
🌐 Visit: http://www.rwdialogue.com
💡 Inclusive Communication. Real World Impact.
Real World Dialogue 