Avoiding Cultural

Assumptions

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What practitioners and migrant families told us

How we identified this theme - the findings of the 'Everyday Bordering in the UK' project


Many practitioners and migrant family members described experiencing challenges when working with, or being supported by, people from different cultures to their own.  Here, ‘culture’ refers to the habits, beliefs, knowledge and social behaviours that people from particular regions can share. 

 

Some of the challenges related to misunderstandings between families and practitioners about the role of local services and institutions and how they operate (see ‘working with people from different cultural and national backgrounds’).  However, this theme focuses on the challenges practitioners describe when working with families and individuals with different social habits and behaviours – or norms – to their own. Practitioners explained, for example, that they (and colleagues) can lack knowledge of cultural practices and make assumptions about families with a history of migration. Common examples related to the nature of gender roles in families, the role of extended family members, and educational expectations of children. 


Practitioners told us that they worried about this affecting their assessment of the support needs of families with migrant backgrounds. They were also concerned that this could lead to them asking questions that might cause cultural offence to family members, and some reported feeling uncomfortable when talking about race and ethnicity, including using labels such as BAME.

 

From this, we learnt that some practitioners are aware of the impact of ‘cultural bias’ on their work with migrant families, or the ‘unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that impact on our understanding, actions, and decisions’ about a particular group (Suveren, 2022).  Some also understood that when working with people from cultural backgrounds different to their own, they drew or knowledge that was not always based on evidence or first-hand experience, or they made judgements based on what was culturally 'normal' to them.  These judgements are sometimes referred to as 'automatic thoughts'. 


Although some practitioners had benefitted from learning basic information about a range of cultures in 'cultural competency’ training, they also felt that this tended to focus on specific minority ethnic groups, and that this could reinforce stereotypes and existing ‘cultural bias’. Therefore, the resources provided here do not include information about specific minority ethnic cultures or other groups.  Instead, they aim to prompt reflection on the sources of the cultural assumptions that we make, and on how to deal with this in professional practice.  

 


 

In this video, 'Talking about 'Race' and Ethnicity', we encourage you to reflect on the challenges practitioners told us about when working with people from cultural backgrounds different to their own. These challenges are related to people making 'cultural assumptions', talking about our own or other people's ethnicity or race, and the use of labels, such as, BAME or BME.  

As with all the resources in the website, this brief video aims to support individual and group reflection.

Please pause the video to engage in the suggested reflective activities and remember that you can use this resource together with the case studies on the website.

Using this specific resource, including completing the reflective exercises, will take you around 20 minutes. 

Things practitioners can do

Evidence from health care research shows that external pressures to be ‘politically correct’ are rarely effective in supporting practitioners to understand and address the cultural assumptions that they can make. Instead, this is more likely if individuals have ‘internal motivation’ to do so, and that this happens by encouraging practitioners to become aware of their own and colleagues’ cultural bias [see case study activities].


The same research highlights the importance of practitioners understanding the historical origins of the cultural assumptions that they make - for example, cultural bias in their education or the national media - and how this influences their thoughts. This is so that people recognise that ‘cultural bias’ often results from common thought processes that should be explored and challenged, and this is not necessarily a sign of racism.  We invite you to engage with the recorded presentation, 'Talking about 'Race' and Ethnicity', to support this process.


Practitioners also told us that they developed confidence in their work with people from cultural and ethnic backgrounds different to their own, by meeting and working with diverse groups of people, and sharing their experiences and learning with colleagues. 



Ways to incorporate these recommendations into your work


As an individual practitioner:




On an organisational level you can work with management to:


How to use the resources provided


The information and case studies can be used by an individual, or to facilitate a group exercise for a team of practitioners.  


They have been developed to give you, or your team, an opportunity to:

 



How to use the resources


To get the most out of using the information and case studies on this page, we suggest that you (or members of your team) follow the four steps set out below. Remember that reflections and experiences can be shared with other practitioners by accessing the online community for this theme: 

 

Stage 1: What practitioners and migrant families told us

 

Stage 2:  What practitioners can do  

 

Stage 3:  The case studies


Stage 4: Applying your reflections

 

Case studies

children's drawing of a family

Case study 2:

children's drawing of a family and house

Case study 3:

Additional resources and links

Whilst specific professions and/or groups of people with migratory backgrounds are considered, this is not an exhaustive list, but a selection of useful resources that are available online. We hope that this will prompt you to search for further resources related to your profession and the communities with which you work.  Please share any further resources that you find useful with the online community for this theme,

 

Definitions of cultural bias

Approaches to deal with cultural bias, racism, and discrimination

Videos 

Here you will find a selection of brief videos related to a range of cultural practices. As noted, the videos do not reflect our views on the particular subject but, rather, they present perspectives on the topics in order to challenge our cultural biases. 

Arranged marriages

Being a European migrant in the UK

Wearing the hijab

How to work with women that have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM)

FGM is illegal in the UK and a form of abuse.  Professional responses to women that have experienced FGM may, however, be influenced by our 'cultural bias' and the resources provided here aim to address this.  


Heath A (2019) How ethnic minorities are still discriminated against in the UK job market. The British Academy.


Suveren Y (2022). Unconscious bias: Definition and significance. Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar, 14(3): 414-426. 


FitzGerald C, Martin A, Berner D and Hurst S (2019). Interventions designed to reduce implicit prejudices and implicit stereotypes in real world contexts: a systematic review. BMC psychology, 7(1): 29. 


Burgess D, van Ryn M, Dovidio J, Saha S. (2007) Reducing racial bias among health care providers: lessons from social-cognitive psychology. J Gen Intern Med, 22(6):882-7.