Question 1

Ignoring or devaluing the models and practices embedded in other cultures can be described as:

Accepted Answer

Demonstrating willingness to cooperate with alternative healers or incorporate traditional treatments can be important. Ignoring or devaluing the models and practices embedded in other cultures can be described as ethnocentrism and leads away from best practices in healthcare.

Question 2

At the first oral care visit, the culturally sensitive oral health professional should:

Accepted Answer

It is important to assess the core values for each individual client to identify the areas of potential cultural differences with the clients and not just those who appear to belong to different groups. It is the opposite of stereotyping.

Question 3

Statement 1: Beliefs and practices within a culture do not influence the access to healthcare services.
Statement 2: The way people make sense of illness is in part culturally determined.

Accepted Answer

Health and illness are not only physical conditions. Culture can contribute to how members of a specific group determine how causes of illness can be explained and to whom they turn to if they become ill. These beliefs can facilitate or act as barriers to accessing healthcare services.

Question 4

A mother is standing beside her child in the dental office. The child is experiencing a terrible toothache. The mother is crying. She wants to know why God is doing this to her child. What would be the best response of the care provider?

Accepted Answer

By allowing the client to express her feelings, the oral health professional learns more about the client's perspective and beliefs. This allows respectful communication and a suitable explanation of the possible causes. Culturally sensitive care is based on mutual respect and understanding. The other alternatives do not display respect to the cultural beliefs of the mother.

Question 5

A 42-year-old female client brought her 14-year-old son to a first appointment with an oral health professional. The oral health professional plans to obtain a medical history, but the client and the clinician do not speak the same language. The client's son offers to be the interpreter. Which answer is the most appropriate solution?

Accepted Answer

A family member as interpreter can be unreliable due to personal and confidentiality issues. In some cases, the client or the family member in the role of interpreter can be embarrassed with the information provided. Misinterpretation of the information by family members can also occur, which can lead to incorrect diagnoses.

Question 6

Cultural competence starts with:

Accepted Answer

Cultural competence begins with the awareness of one's own cultural beliefs and practices, and the recognition that others believe in different truths/realities than one's own. Cultural competence starts with self-exploration, as well as awareness and elimination of one's own biases.

Question 7

Statement 1: Poverty is associated with poor oral health. Statement 2: Being part of an ethnic majority group leads a person to have poor oral health.

Accepted Answer

Children with the most advanced oral disease are found within minority, poor, homeless, and immigrant populations. Therefore, poverty has a strong association with poor oral health. It is important to realize that within all racial/ethnic groups that there are substantial differences in beliefs and behaviors. This inevitably leads to varying degrees of health status.

Question 8

Statement 1: Complex societies are homogenous. Statement 2: Immigrants of the first generation share the same culture as the second or third generation of immigrants.

Accepted Answer

Complex societies are never homogenous; people will almost always form separate subgroups with their own features. Culture is a dynamic process, and traditional cultures (first immigrants) can differ from newly acquired cultures of the second or third generation of immigrants).

Question 9

Statement 1: Symbols can play an important role in culture. Statement 2: Culture is set by historical developments and will not change.

Accepted Answer

Symbols, rituals, and practices are prominent features of cultures. Cultures are complex and their basic characteristics quite often are historically determined, but cultures are developing and changing continuously.

Question 10

A client from a collectivist environment:

Accepted Answer

It is important to realize that individual clients from both collectivist and individualist cultures might have different point of views. It is the responsibility of the clinician to identify the client's preference for shared decision making and to incorporate those preferences into the care provided.

Question 11

When adapting behavioral interventions for minorities, it is important to:

Accepted Answer

It is very important to identify barriers to access and participation before implementing behavioral interventions using community resources. When possible, coupling initiatives with culturally accepted values and respected figures maximizes uptake and efficacy. All alternatives are correct.

Question 12

If a client does not speak the language of the care provider, the best strategy to interact would be to:

Accepted Answer

When language is a barrier, it is most appropriate to use a medical interpreter with no relationship to the client.

Question 13

Statement 1: Culturally sensitive care starts with the care provider exploring the cultural beliefs of the client. Statement 2: Cultural differences occur in every clinical encounter.

Accepted Answer

The care provider should become aware of her or his own bias and perceptions before the clinical encounter with a client. Since oral health professionals have their own professional culture, it is expected that there will always be some sort of cultural difference between the care provider and the client.

Question 14

An equitable, culturally sensitive environment is characterized by:

Accepted Answer

The goal of effective communication is to maximize the understanding between the communicators. To communicate effectively, both parties have to move beyond cultural biases that could create barriers in care. In the most ideal situation, cross-cultural communication is a means of reciprocal inquiry. This means that both the care provider and client inform each other about their beliefs and expectations.

Question 15

Statement 1: Patients are usually willing to share their ideas and customs with those who express a willingness to understand them. Statement 2: The clinician should assume the presence of cultural differences, and therefore, the clinician needs extensive knowledge of every cultural practice and belief.

Accepted Answer

"If you don't ask, you won't know." By displaying genuine interest in the client and by asking a client to share beliefs, clinicians can increase their cultural knowledge as they practice. Extensive knowledge is not needed. It is most important to develop the understanding that each client's preferences and values are unique.

Question 16

Nonverbal communication is important in a culturally sensitive environment. The clinician should be sensitive to:

Accepted Answer

Cultural differences might be experienced in relation to various forms of nonverbal communication including gestures, handshakes, eye contact, or physical proximity. Follow the client's lead and explore his or her expectations and beliefs.

Question 17

Stereotyping:

Accepted Answer

Stereotyping fails to recognize the uniqueness of the individual and prevents an accurate perception of those who appear different. It is a biased opinion. Stereotyping should not be promoted as a strategy.

Question 18

Statement 1: Health care literacy is the ability to understand health or disease. Statement 2: Poverty is not a barrier to access healthcare.

Accepted Answer

Health care literacy refers to understanding of the ability to understand how the healthcare system works. Poverty is a major barrier to healthcare access and prevents individuals from meeting their basic human needs for systemic and oral health.

Question 19

Statement 1: Ethnic identity describes the common cultural, historic, and geographic experiences of a group. Statement 2: Individuals of a group who share an ethnic identity also share the same attitude, interests, and dialects.

Accepted Answer

A larger group may share common cultural, historic and geographic experiences (ethnic identity), but the individuals within the primary culture may belong to various different subcultures. Within any group, heterogeneity is more likely than homogeneity.

Quiz 6: Cultural Competence