An innovative educational strategy to addressing cultural competence in healthcare for quilombola women

• Autor(a) principal: Freitas Junior, Reginaldo Antonio de Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Santos, Carolina Araujo Damasio, Lisboa, Lilian Lira, Freitas, Ana Karla Monteiro Santana de Oliveira, Azevedo, George Dantas de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRN
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufrn.br/handle/123456789/31456
• topic: African continental ancestry group; Cultural competency; Culturally competent care; Health equity; Health services accessibility

The Quilombola community is made up of descendants of enslaved Africans. These people represent an ethnic minority group within the Brazilian Black population with worse health indicators including higher rates of maternal mortality. Context: The Brazilian National Guidelines for education of health professionals state that cultural competence and education of ethnic‑racial relations need to be reinforced. Activities: An action research initiative was developed with the main goal of contributing to the development of cultural competence, interprofessional education, and collaborative work as well as improving the maternal and child indicators of the Quilombola community. An elective module for undergraduate health courses with the subject “Cultural Competence in Health Care for Quilombola Women” was implemented. Data on health‑related needs identification, students’ perceptions about interactions with the community, and competencies necessary to work with the Quilombola community were considered. Outcomes: Our educational strategy reinforces the importance of considering the processes that influence the health care of this population. The reflective capacity and communication skills emerged as the most important attitudinal and psychomotor components, respectively. Future Directions: Sustainability comes from partnerships established between the Quilombola community and the university to institutionalize educational and research strategies. This project contributes to reducing health inequities and deconstructing racism in the training of future health professionals. Conclusions: The creation of links, the building of trust between users and health staff, and the ability to reflect, with emphasis on communication, were shown as the main components of culturally competent behavior in maternal health care in the studied Quilombola population