Description
Background: cross-cultural care refers to the creation of an environment in which people from diverse cultural backgrounds can access healthcare without experiencing discrimination or harm based on their cultural beliefs, practices, or identity. It involves
considering individual’s cultural needs and preferences and adapting services and practices to be more inclusive and culturally appropriate. In the field of humanitarian aid, crosscultural care training is crucial for ensuring that care and support are provided to
communities in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner, particularly in challenging
and complex environments. Humanitarian aid workers need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to address the needs of diverse populations effectively and sensitively.
Aim: explore the available scientific evidence on the inclusion of cross-cultural care training in international humanitarian aid settings.
Methods: a scoping review was conducted to explore the existing body of knowledge regarding cross-cultural care training within the context of humanitarian aid settings. This review involved searching multiple databases and consulting grey literature sources. The criteria for inclusion encompassed studies published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese that directly addressed the research question and were centered on relief work or humanitarian aid. Data extraction followed a standardized form, and the analysis and synthesis adhered to the JBI scoping review methodology.
Results: From an initial pool of 42,102 academic records, 23 publications were eligible for inclusion in this study. This selection comprised 13 (57%) academic articles and 10 (43%) grey literature sources. These publications were categorized into four distinct groups: Recommendations, Guidelines, Experience in Implementation, and Teaching Materials.
The analysis of the results revealed that the academic articles predominantly advocated for humanitarian organizations to incorporate cross-cultural care training into their staff. Additionally, various guidelines were identified, outlining the integration of cultural aspects into humanitarian aid training. Notably, it was observed that some organizations have not only implemented such training but have also documented their experiences. Furthermore, certain international humanitarian organizations have established web-based educational resources, specifically designed to enhance cultural knowledge and awareness among their staff.
Conclusions: it is recommended that international humanitarian aid organizations integrate cross-cultural care training into their operations. Such integration is essential for mitigating disparities in healthcare access. Furthermore, the limited number of records identified in this scoping review underscores a significant gap in the areas of research, implementation, and documentation of this topic.
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