Intercultural communicative competence and medical students from Haiti: the case of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at National University of Rosario, Argentina,
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Date
2014-05
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Elsevier
Abstract
Description
This paper shows how the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the National University of Rosario in Argentina responds to the
growing number of students from Haiti who have come to Rosario city during the last few years. These strategies are analyzed
from the intercultural communicative competence concept -formed by attitudes, knowledge and skills- which arise when
interacting with people from other cultures. An ethnographic methodological strategy was designed, and interviews and
documental analysis were conducted, with the objective of determining the way in which the Departments of Medicine, Nursery
and Speech Therapy meet the different needs arising from the integration of immigrants from one of the most impoverished
countries on earth. As there are no antecedents on this empirical scope, this research is explanatory; specifically, it is a singular
case study. The collected data include the creation of specific didactic material, the organization of a financial aid campaign for
their country of origin, the implementation of medical offices for specific needs, among other devices. The conclusion points
out a strong institutional commitment in the sense of the promotion of the intercultural communicative competence among the
participants. Besides meeting the functional goal of facilitating the sociocultural integration of the Haitian students, the
achievements benefit the intercultural development of the host community.
Keywords
Intercultural communicative competence, Medical sciencies, Higher education