Intercultural communication in psychiatric diagnosis and psychiatric consultations in Leicester, UK

Background: Psychiatrists' perceptions shape diagnostic interviews, impacting intercultural clinical service delivery. Diagnostic criteria, patient information, and cultural influences affect diagnostic consultation outcomes, but barriers in intercultural contexts reveal a gap in applying intercultural knowledge with limited academic exploration. UK psychiatrists follow ICD guidelines, yet ICD10/11 criteria lack strict neuroscientific grounding. To bridge these gaps, psychiatrists are encouraged to enhance cultural competence by acquiring proper cultural knowledge, skills, and awareness when conducting high-quality diagnostic consultation interviews. Aim: This research aimed to explore psychiatrists' perspectives on the cultural aspects of the quality of the diagnostic consultation process, serving as the foundational stage in understanding the evolving dynamics between psychiatrists and patients/families. Additionally, it aimed to examine how psychiatrists describe their incorporation of cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills in daily practice, along with their interpretation of clinical situations in diagnostic consultation interviews. Method: To understand psychiatrists' cultural competencies in clinical practice, a qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted, investigating the cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills of twenty purposefully selected psychiatrists within Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust through one-to-one, semi-structured interviews. Findings: This study highlights the importance of integrating Fuchs's theoretical framework (2010) and Aggarwal's intersubjective model of culture (2023) into constructing a British Intercultural Psychiatric Communication Formulation within British psychiatric practice. It identified four key experiential themes and their subthemes: 1) non-verbal and verbal behaviours, 2) identity of a professional psychiatrist, 3) mapping clinically significant information, and 4) reflectiveness. Conclusions: This research highlights a significant oversight in current guidelines that overlooks the cultural context of psychiatrists. It also identifies limitations in psychiatrists' exploration of intercultural communication knowledge in formulating diagnostic consultations, emphasising potential gaps in their understanding of cultural nuances. The study underscores the need to overcome barriers and enhance psychiatrists’ capacity to develop culturally sensitive diagnostic approaches for multicultural backgrounds.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Janis

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/52e2a7e0-9d06-47cb-aaa2-592d3117b232/download