What people are saying
Your Voice Survey Results: Part 1
Between September and November 2008, we surveyed our conference attendees and members of the CLAS-talk listserv to find out how they use the internet to gather information about cross cultural health care / cultural competence, and what new online tools they might be willing to try. Our goal was gauge interest in participating in ongoing learning, networking and support activities that would extend and deepen the conference experience, and make it available to a wider audience.
We had 238 respondents to our online survey, with additional 20 surveys filled out on paper at the conference.
Highlights:
Respondents said they can devote, on average, about 2-3 hours per week to online searching for information about cross cultural health care / cultural competence.
They currently rely on a variety of online information sources, including websites sponsored by the HHS Office of Minority Health, CDC, DiversityRx, the Cross Cultural Health Care Program, and Ethnomed. (A complete list of websites mentioned by respondents will be available shortly).
Nearly half say they also get information on cross cultural health care from email, e-newsletters and/or moderated listservs.
Of the online tools they don’t currently use, respondents are most willing to try:
· website forums
· online collaborative workspaces
· web conferences
Nearly a quarter of respondents are also interested in
· blogs
· telephone conference calls with short presentations and discussions
· communities of practice
· moderated listservs on specific topics
· social networking sites
· wikis.
For more information about each tool, visit the
Glossary
Nearly half said it would be helpful to be able to share questions and challenges in their cross cultural health work with a community of colleagues that connected by email, phone or online (and another 48 percent said this would possibly be helpful). 60 percent said they’d have up to an hour or more a week to participate.
Additional suggestions and comments raised in the survey include:
Website resources:
A central repository of validated resources (research papers, project reports, training materials, tools, websites, etc), with email updates about additions to the site.
Small groups/communities of practice:
Small groups of practitioners that can email each other regularly and periodically link to a larger conference/group learning experience
“My favorite is local loose organizations of people doing similar work who get together monthly or quarterly to exchange ideas and work on things together when that makes sense. We did that in Boston with the Interpreter Services Collaborative -- directors of hospital-based interpreter services in the Greater Boston Teaching Hospitals. We shared information about how we ran our programs, new opportunities coming up, etc. and met together with the Mass Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to get better access to ASL interpreters from them. This loose association had the effect of helping all of us move forward -- like playing basketball with really good players.”
Local/regional supports:
Professional groups/networks (interpreters, CLAS managers, etc)
Meetings and training opportunities
Tech/info support:
Online librarian in cultural competence who could help locate particular resources on demand via email (like Ask.com)
Training for those unfamiliar with web 2.0