H4A - Edições Sílabo · 1 2014 EDIÇÕES SÍLABO o Revista TRANSCULTURAL APPPT is a non-profit...

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TRANSCULTURAL

APPPT is a non-profit organization established in 2002. Its founding goals consisted in the deve-

lopment of clinical research that emphasized the cultural dimension of mental health and illness,

and the reflection on health care practices provided to immigrants and ethnic minorities. Thus, its

specific objectives consist in ( ) raising awareness to the issues of transcultural mental health; ( )

furthering the training on intercultural skills of professionals in the fields of medical, social and

human sciences, particularly psychology and psychiatry; ( ) adding to the expansion of know-

ledge within the domain of transcultural mental health, including scientific research; and

( ) contributing to the provision of culturally-sensitive mental health services directed to social

minorities, such as migrant populations, ethnic minorities and refugees.

i ii

iii

iv

The present volume is dedicated to the presentation of the research group

Health for All (H4A) at CIS-IUL in the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE-

UL. «Health for All» is the core mission statement of this group, which aims

with its activities to contribute to making health a vital resource equally avail-

able to all individuals regardless of their personal, social, and cultural back-

grounds.

The papers that compose this special volume represent the diversity of

thematic research lines and methodologies, as well as the commitment to

the applied focus of H4A activities. They include issues related to risk percep-

tion and health communication, health of social minorities, promotion of

equality and participation in health-care processes, and the relations

between health and the environment/places.

Overall, the selected papers present an overview of recent contributions

given by the H4A group to better understand and tackle relevant health

related issues, ranging from health inequalities to the promotion of well-

being. They also illustrate its general framework of analysis of health related

topics ( pain, stigma, mental health, eating behaviours) based on psycho-

social processes ( stereotypes; social identities; risk perception; multicul-

tural processes), and how this psychosocial approach may be widely appli-

cable to a variety of health topics and issues.

e.g.

e.g.

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TRANSCULTURAL

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REVISTA TRANSCULTURAL

Diretora: Carla Moleiro (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal)

Secretariado Científico: Jaclin Freire (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal)

Conselho Editorial: Adil Qureshi (University Hospital Vall d’Hebron, Espanha) António Colaço (APPPT, Portugal) Célia Soares (Cis-IUL/Universidade Autónoma, Portugal) Cláudia Rosa (APPPT, Portugal) José Flores (Hospital Prof. Doutor Fernando Fonseca, Portugal) Joana Alexandre (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal) Maria Benedicta Monteiro (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal) Maria Bjorn (APPPT, Portugal) Marie Rose Moro (Université Paris Descartes, França) Marrie Bekker (Tillburg University, Holanda) Marta Gonçalves (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal) Melanie Vauclair (ISCTE-IUL, Portugal) Natália Ramos (Universidade Aberta, Portugal) Rui Mota Cardoso (APPPT, Portugal) Valdiney Gouveia (UFPB, Brasil)

TRANSCULTURAL

Revista Semestral da Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia e Psiquiatria Transcultural

VOLUME VI

NÚMERO 1

2014

Número temático Health for All – H4A

Carla Moleiro & Jaclin Freire

Coordenação

EDIÇÕES SÍLABO

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FICHA TÉCNICA:

Título: Transcultural – Volume VI – Número 1 – 2014 Propriedade do título: Associação Portuguesa de Psicologia e Psiquiatria Transcultural (www.psitranscultural.pt) © Edições Sílabo, Lda. Capa: Pedro Mota Imagem da capa: Azenhas, Amadeo de Souza Cardoso

1ª Edição – Lisboa, janeiro de 2015 Tiragem: 400 exemplares Impressão e acabamentos: Cafilesa – Soluções Gráficas, Lda. Depósito Legal: 213056/04 ISSN: 1645-9555

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R. Cidade de Manchester, 2 1170-100 Lisboa Tel.: 218130345 Fax: 218166719 e-mail: [email protected] www.silabo.pt

Í N D I C E

Introduction to special volume 7 Carla Moleiro • Sibila Marques • Jaclin Freire • João Carvalho

INTRODUCTION PAPER

Transcultural identity – The future self in a globalized world 11 Christin-Melanie Vauclair • Justine Klecha • Cristina Milagre • Bárbara Duque

Part 1

RISK PERCEPTION & HEALTH COMMUNICATION

Food risk communication – Empirical studies and practical resources 25 Rui Gaspar • João Carvalho • Sílvia Luís • Maria Luísa Lima

Promoting healthy eating – A brief review of research on predictors and interventions 39 Cristina Godinho • João Carvalho • Maria Luísa Lima

Part 2 HEALTH OF SOCIAL MINORITIES: AGE, GENDER, LGBT & CULTURE

The EURAGE Group – Examining ageing and ageism in context through the European Social Survey 55 Christin-Melanie Vauclair • Maria Luísa Lima • Sibila Marques

The SIforAGE project – Social innovation for active and healthy ageing 69 Sibila Marques • Joana Mendonça • Christin-Melanie Vauclair • Sónia Bernardes Susana Batel • Maria Luísa Lima

Development and evaluation of a brief LGBT competence training for counselors and clinical psychologists – A pilot applied study 87 Carla Moleiro • Nuno Pinto • Ana Changalal

Cultural and individual diversity in mental health services – Defining and assessing clinical competences 101 Carla Moleiro • Jaclin Freire • Nuno Pinto • Sandra Roberto

Part 3 PROMOTION OF EQUALITY & PARTICIPATION IN THE HEALTH-CARE PROCESSES

Quality of care through the eyes of the patient – Personalised routine measurement systems in mental health 115 Célia Sales • Paula Alves

Mental health destigmatisation – From research to intervention 129 Marta Gonçalves • Sandra Oliveira

Active ageing and intergenerational dialogue – From research and intervention to policy 145 Marta Gonçalves • Diana Farcas

Part 4 HEALTH & PLACES

The physical environment of medical settings – A space for patient-centered care 157 Cláudia Campos Andrade • Rita Morais • Maria Luísa Lima Sónia Bernardes • Ann Sloan Devlin

Healthy (and not so healthy) spaces – The importance of psycho-social variables 169 Maria Luísa Lima • Sibila Marques

Lista de pareceristas de 2014 185

Normas para submissão 187

7

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O S P E C I A L V O L U M E

Carla Moleiro

Sibila Marques

Jaclin Freire

João Carvalho

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal

The present volume is dedicated to the presentation and description of some of

the relevant research projects of the group Heath for All (H4A). H4A is a research

group at Centro de Intervenção e Investigação Social (CIS-IUL), from the Lisbon Uni-

versity Institute ISCTE-IUL. CIS-IUL is the research center with the highest concen-

tration of social psychologists in Portugal and one of the highest in Europe. Interna-

tionally, CIS-IUL is recognized for its contributions to fundamental and applied re-

search in areas such as intergroup relations, social cognition, social psychology of

health, environmental psychology and community psychology.

«Health for All» (H4A) is the core mission statement of this group, which aims with its

activities to contribute to making health a vital resource equally available to all indi-

viduals regardless of their personal, social, and cultural backgrounds. The general

goal of H4A is to do research and develop interventions from a psychosocial ap-

proach to health, as defined by the World Health Organization in 1948. This means

that researchers examine health related topics (e.g. pain, stigma, mental health,

eating behaviours) based on psychosocial processes (e.g. stereotypes; social

identities; risk perception; multicultural processes). Hence, the specific goals include:

(i ) To understand the psychosocial factors accounting for inequities in health status

and health-care access and delivery among members of different social groups

(based on age, gender, sexual orientation, cultural background) in order to tackle

health-related inequities and promote social justice in health; (ii ) To understand the

relationship between physical environment perceptions/characteristics and individu-

als’ health, and to develop environmental interventions in order to promote health

R E V I S T A T R A N S C U L T U R A L – V O L U M E V I – N Ú M E R O 1 – 2 0 1 4

8

and well-being; and (iii ) To explore risk perceptions and health communication proc-

esses in order to develop more effective ways of sharing health-related information.

The innovative approach of H4A comes from the use of the concept of «social inter-

action» to integrate the contributions of various levels of analysis to health issues, in

a coherent framework. Inequalities in healthcare are, thus, approached from this per-

spective, focusing on the socio-cognitive biases, the communication processes and

the spatial dimensions that frame the quality of healthcare delivery. Researchers in

this group are especially interested in identifying the social determinants of well-being

that can be used in promoting the health of individuals, groups and communities

through research-based interventions.

H4A has four thematic research areas:

• T1. Risk Perception & Health Communication: research on the promotion of

healthy life-styles – e.g., eating behavior, and communication of food risks and

benefits;

• T2. Health of Social Minorities: Age, Gender, LGBT & Culture: research on age-

ism and intergenerational contact, gender and pain, cultural competence and

disparities in care for ethnic minorities, cultural values and international assign-

ments;

• T3. Promotion of Equality & Participation in the Health-Care Processes: re-

search on the participation of patients in therapy and the evaluation of person-

alized treatment;

• T4. Health & Places: research on the health impacts of spaces and the healthy

uses of spaces – e.g., energy efficient and pro-ecological behavior; sustainabil-

ity and climate changes.

The H4A group uses a diversity of levels of analysis to approach health and a

wide range of methodologies are mastered by its members to address research

questions, both quantitative – experimental, surveys, and multi-level analysis of large

cross-national datasets and meta-analytic methods – and qualitative approaches –

including interviews, focus groups, content analysis of media or grounded-theory.

This research group also tries to approach the challenges of inclusion and participa-

tion in healthcare for individuals, groups and communities from a person-centered

perspective.

Apart from research, H4A is also involved in advanced training activities. The

group offers training at the graduate and postgraduate level, by being actively in-

volved in two Doctoral programs (in Psychology and Social Psychology) and Master

courses such as the «Social Psychology of Health», «Community Psychology and

Child Protection» and «Psychology of Intercultural Relations». In addition, the group

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O S P E C I A L V O L U M E

9

has a strong commitment to knowledge diffusion activities both by participating as

scientific committee and/or organizing members in national and international events

and through the promotion of transfer activities to the community (e.g., interviews to

the media, intergenerational university). Outreach of the knowledge is produced

through protocols with different healthcare providers and user groups. H4A research-

ers design, implement and evaluate theory-based and research-based instruments

and intervention programs targeting health, social and cultural issues, which can be

applied in health and social institutions. They also respond to specific needs of

healthcare service providers and social groups. For instance, they have a strong

connection with conducting field research to answer societal needs in the domain of

environment, health management and intergenerational activities.

The papers that compose this special volume represent this diversity of thematic

research lines and methodologies, as well as the commitment to the applied focus of

H4A activities. In the initial theoretical paper, Melanie Vauclair and colleagues dis-

cuss transcultural identity in a globalized world. Then, a 1st section is dedicated to the

presentation of projects on Risk Perception and Health Communication, focusing

specifically on food related issues. In this section, Rui Gaspar and colleagues de-

scribe a number of studies developed by the team on food risk communication. Addi-

tionally, Cristina Godinho and colleagues report their recent work on predictors and

interventions to promote healthy eating.

A 2nd section is devoted to international and national projects concerned with

health inequalities, in particular to the health of social minorities (based on age, gen-

der, sexual orientation, and cultural background). Ageism and perceptions of older

persons are discussed by Christin-Melanie Vauclair, and Sibila Marques and col-

leagues. Vauclair and colleagues present research conducted by The EURAGE

Group (European Research Group on Attitudes to Age), whereas Marques and col-

leagues describe the SIforAGE Project. Mental health of social minorities is also fo-

cus of research and intervention of H4A. In this regard, Carla Moleiro and colleagues

present their work in two papers on the development of individual and cultural diver-

sity competences of practitioners. Specifically, one paper reports a study on training

of psychologists working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients; and

another describes a national project aiming to characterize the needs of social mi-

norities with regards to mental health care and to develop a set of instruments to

measure individual and cultural diversity competences, namely in working with mi-

grants and ethnic minorities.

A 3rd section focuses on promotion of participation in health care processes. This

is best illustrated by the paper by Celia Sales and Paula Alves on the quality man-

agement of health services, introducing an innovative approach to routine measure-

ment systems. Furthermore, Marta Gonçalves and colleagues present an introduction


10

to mental health destigmatization and ongoing projects, followed by a discussion on

active ageing and intergenerational dialogue.

A final section highlights the importance of places and the environment on health.

In this section, Cláudia Andrade and colleagues expand on the role of hospital envi-

ronments on patient well-being; and Luisa Lima and Sibila Marques review the objec-

tive and subjective factors associated with the environment that may influence key

health outcomes.

Overall, the papers selected for this special volume present an overview of recent

important contributions given by the H4A group to better understand and tackle rele-

vant health related issues, ranging from health inequalities to the promotion of well-

-being. They also illustrate how the general framework for conducting research and

interventions followed by the H4A group, which combines a psychosocial approach to

health with the use of different methodologies, can be very informative, effective and

widely applicable to a variety of health topics and issues.

11

Transcultural identity The future self in a globalized world

Christin-Melanie Vauclair Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS, Lisboa, Portugal

Justine Klecha Catholic University of Applied Sciences of North Rhine – Westphalia, Cologne, Germany

Cristina Milagre Alto Comissariado para as Migrações, Lisboa, Portugal

Bárbara Duque Alto Comissariado para as Migrações, Lisboa, Portugal

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Abstract

The era of globalization brings about an increasing number of people that migratesand adapts to different cultures not only once, but multiple times in their lives. One of the central questions for social psychologists is how these different cultural experi-ences are processed and integrated into a person’s cultural identity. To date, socialpsychology has mainly examined this issue from a biculturalism perspective. How-ever, this does not correspond to the reality of multiple cultural experiences whichassumingly all have an effect on people’s self-conception as cultural beings. In thispaper it is suggested that a transcultural perspective is better fitted to respond to these new forms of multiculturalism. The present paper clarifies what this concept isand to what extent a transcultural identity is distinctive from a bicultural identity. Astudy conducted within a Master thesis project is briefly presented which aimed to examine the meaning of transcultural identity. This work has been conducted in part-nership with a member of the Health for All (H4A) research group at CIS-IUL and the High Commission for Migrations (Alto Comissariado para as Migrações, ACM). A selection of the preliminary findings is briefly presented as well as implications oftransculturalism for future research and applied areas.

Keywords: Transcultural identity, Transculturalism, Multiculturalism, Globalization.

Corresponding Author: Christin-Melanie Vauclair

Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Edifício ISCTE, Cis-IUL. Avenidas das Forças Armadas, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal (Email: [email protected]).

T R A N S C U L T U R A L I D E N T I T Y

13

Introduction

The 21st century is an era of globalization, i.e. an increased international con-

nectedness, in areas such as economy but also culture (Steger, 2003). A growing

number of people is – at various points in their lives – travelling, studying, and work-

ing in places outside their home country. Portugal is a good example of people’s in-

ternational mobility: 40% of all Portuguese are emigrants and live in a foreign coun-

try.1 Their intercultural experiences are accompanied by adaptation processes which

can alter to some extent their cultural worldviews and values (Berry, 2003; Ward &

Kennedy, 1994). International migration also gives rise to more cross-cultural rela-

tionships and marriages. For instance, intermarriage rates between spouses of dif-

ferent ethnicities doubled between 1980 (6.7%) and 2008 (14.6%) in the United

States (Pew Research Center, April 2011).

International migration and the formation of increasingly culturally diverse families

open up a number of intriguing questions for social psychologists. One central ques-

tion is how different cultural experiences and heritages are integrated in a person’s

cultural identity. Social psychology has usually studied this issue from the perspective

of biculturalism (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005), i.e. individuals who have

been raised in two different cultures since birth. Bicultural individuals may either mix

the two cultures (alike combining the best of both worlds) or switch between the two

cultural frameworks depending on the context (e.g., Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, &

Morris, 2002). Yet, very recently some researchers have pointed out that in our glob-

alized world, individuals are not always socialized into different cultures from birth,

but can go through multiple cultural experiences throughout their lifespan which

should have an effect on how they deal with cultural differences (Lücke, Kostova, &

Roth, 2013). It has been suggested that multicultural experiences can give rise to

new cultural forms, not found in either of the cultures in contact (Berry, 2003). Theo-

rists within the social science disciplines of philosophy and cultural studies have re-

ferred to this as transculturalism (e.g., Epstein, 2009) and see the formation of

transcultural identities as the future selves in a globalized world. However, social

psychology has largely neglected to study transcultural identities as a social psycho-

logical phenomenon.

In this paper, we will present work by a member of the Health for All (H4A) group

who has supervised a master thesis from the Westfalen Catholic University of Ap-

plied Sciences (Cologne, Germany) in the area of Social Work. This research has

been conducted in collaboration with the High Commission for Migrations (Alto Comis-

sariado para as Migrações, ACM) in order to examine the meaning of transcultural

(1) http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Portugal-MIGRATION.html


14

identities for people with multicultural experiences who are currently residing in Portugal.

We will first define the concept of transcultural identity, then present the aims and

goals of the current project and finally provide a hint of the preliminary findings. We

will also highlight future research avenues and implications of the transcultural iden-

tity concept for applied areas such as Social Work. We conclude with an outlook on

this promising new cultural identity concept.

Transcultural identity

Culture shapes the way people think, how they make sense of their environment

and who they are. Culture is usually defined as a shared meaning system, in terms of

values and beliefs, among members of a cultural group who have been subjected to

the same cultural socialization experience (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008). When it

comes to the issue of multiple cultural experiences and how they are integrated into a

person’s identity, social psychology has mainly focused on biculturalism.

Biculturalism examines how individuals develop an understanding and competen-

cies in two cultures (e.g., Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). It usually focuses on the

ability to speak fluently two languages and/or to behave appropriately in two different

cultural settings. Individuals who have grown up under the exposure of two cultures

may develop a bicultural identity, i.e. they strongly identify with both cultures. Hence,

they internalize the two cultures through early socialization by peers and caregivers

and their value structures and beliefs are stable over time.

Transculturalism can be seen as an extension of biculturalism in that it refers to

individuals with multicultural experiences; yet, it also has some important particulari-

ties that render it inherently different from the notion of biculturalism. The term

transculturalism was introduced as early as in the 1940s by social scientists in order

to refer to the emergence of new cultural forms as a consequence of intercultural

contact or ‘metissage’ in culturally diverse populations such as in Canada and the

United States (Cuccioletta, 2001/02). It refers to the notion that people can develop

an understanding of culture that transcends or goes beyond specific cultures by

combining elements of more than one culture.In the following years, transculturalism

has been discussed by philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists and cultural theo-

rists as a phenomenon accompanying globalization.

Intercultural contact which refers to the situation in which individuals with different

cultural backgrounds, communicate and interact with each other (Cushner & Brislin,

1996), is an important prerequisite for transculturalism to develop. Much research in

Social Psychology has dealt with the difficulties and cultural misunderstandings that


15

these situations may cause. Yet, it is also an important learning environment in which

individuals may acquire new cultural knowledge and skills and therefore engage in a

form of cultural learning. The main idea of transculturalism is that this form of cultural

learning can result in new insights that would not be possible without intercultural

contact. These insights do not pre-exist in any culture as part of the original meaning

system, but they resonate with the various cultures (cf. Lücke et al., 2013). They de-

velop out of the necessity to process multiple cultural experiences and to engage in

meaning-making of different cultural forms as well as possible cultural conflicts and

inconsistencies.

In terms of identity, transculturalism results not so much in a social, but a per-

sonal identity based on the multiple intercultural contact experiences that can have a

long-lasting effect on a persons’ values and worldview (i.e., the set of assumptions

about life and the physical and social worlds, Koltko-Rivera & Mark, 2004). We pro-

pose that these effects are inherently unique for three reasons: first, individuals differ

in the kinds of multiple cultural experience they go through; second, they differ in

terms of how they learn from an intercultural contact situation and how they process

any conflicts and inconsistencies; third, they differ in regard to their choice of cultural

elements they want to integrate into their selves. Hence, contrary to a bicultural iden-

tity in which significant others (e.g., caregivers) usually play a crucial role in the de-

velopment of a bicultural identity, transcultural individuals autonomously and con-

sciously choose the cultural elements they want to internalize so that they become

part of who they are. It is therefore a dynamic or so-called fluid form of identity (cf.

Oyserman, Elmore, & Smith, 2012) in the sense that cultural elements that are inte-

grated into the self-concept can change constantly through new intercultural experi-

ences. In sum, it is rather a personal than a social identity because multiple cultural

experiences result in a self-definition in terms of personal beliefs, norms and values

rather than in identification with a particular group (e.g., in terms of nationality) that

indicates group belongingness and differentiation from dissimilar others (cf.

Deschamps & Devos, 1998).

Previous theorists have compared transculturalism as well as multiculturalism to a

mosaic-like pattern (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Hong, 2014; Cuccioletta, 2001/02). Both

perspectives use the mosaic metaphors to illustrate what individuals with multiple

cultural experiences have in common and to what extent they are different from oth-

ers. A mosaic is a pattern produced by the arrangement of small pieces such as tiles.

The small pieces may illustrate the different cultural elements that have been inter-

nalized. Yet, a mosaic is also more than the sum of its parts since the arrangement of

all parts creates a new pattern. This is comparable to the individual’s transcultural

identity which is made up of different, but interconnected cultural elements that form

a new identity. Hence, what is common in transcultural individuals is that their identity


16

is a ‘patchwork’ of different cultural elements due to multiple intercultural experi-

ences. However, they differ in regard to the actual cultural contents that make up

their identity. Alike a patchwork or mosaic, the result is something new and very

unique which is at the focus of the transculturalism perspective. In contrast, the multi-

culturalism approach in social psychology focuses more on how individuals develop a

sense of national, cultural, ethnic, and racial group membership despite the patch-

work of culturally diverse experiences (Benet-Martínez & Hong, 2014).

More recently, a cognitive connectionist perspective of multiculturalism has been

offered which is fully compatible with the concept of transculturalism put forward

here. Lücke and colleagues (2013) proposed that the experience of multiculturalism

results in the internal representation of multiple cultural meaning systems which can

take the form of five different stylized cognitive patterns: compartmentalization (sepa-

rate cultural cognitions), integration (interconnected cultural cognitions), inclusion

(enhanced home cultural cognitions with added foreign culture elements), conver-

gence (merged cultural cognitions consisting in overlapping schemas), and generali-

zation (new cultural cognitions of meta-cultural schemas). The latter resembles very

much the transculturalism concept advocated here since it refers to the emergence of

new cultural cognitions. Generalization is based on learning from many cultures, but

it involves the active and self-initiated generation of new cultural content that is less

contextual and therefore universally applicable – or in our words, it transcends spe-

cific cultures. Lücke et al. (2013) called this cognitive pattern generalization since

new non-culture specific metacognitions are created that allow operation across dif-

ferent cultural contexts. Hence, this allows cultural understanding and interpretation

in many, even unfamiliar, cultural contexts. From a cognitive connectivist perspective,

which is fully consistent with our conceptualization, individuals with a generalized

cognitive pattern are not so much characterized by their knowledge and skills re-

garding various cultures (i.e., culture content), but by a multicultural cognitive struc-

ture that represents the interconnectedness of different cultural schema (i.e., cogni-

tive structure). For instance, multicultural managers with a generalization pattern are

unlikely to have a highly elaborated cultural understanding within and across different

cultural contexts; however, they should have a potential for new insights and innova-

tion. They can be seen as the individuals with a bird’s eye view when it comes to un-

derstanding cultural differences and similarities. A crucial difference to this cognitive

perspective and our transcultural concept advocated here is that identification with

the new non-culture specific meta-cognitions is not expected; however, we suggest

that people may integrate them into their conception of who they are as cultural be-

ings which opens up other avenues for research which can be more focused on so-

cial psychological issues.


17

One of the reasons why this form of cultural cognition or the idea of a transcul-

tural identity has not been researched yet in social psychology might be due to the

fact that it is not characterized by stable cultural elements (e.g., knowledge about

culture-specific meaning systems), which renders it somewhat more difficult to as-

sess with psychometric methods. Nevertheless, it should be in the realm of individu-

als’ experience if it is indeed a psychological phenomenon and not just a theoretical

construct. In order to probe into the question of what transculturalism means to indi-

viduals with multicultural experience, a project was developed within the scope of a

Master thesis and with the partnership of the High Commission for Migrations (ACM)

in Portugal.

The current project

A new concept raises many intriguing questions, for example, about its correlates

with other psychological constructs. It could be that people with transcultural identi-

ties are more culturally sensitive and competent when they deal with people from

different cultures. In order to assess these kinds of questions empirically, it is often

very useful to develop questionnaires in which individuals’ traits can be assessed as

well as any other relevant constructs, so that associations between them can be ex-

amined. However, there is a dearth of research on transculturalism in personality and

social psychology and contrary to the concept of bicultural identity, there is no in-

strument to date that assesses the construct transcultural identity. Hence, the main

goal of the present study was to examine how laypeople with multicultural experi-

ences (defined as having lived for at least 3 months in more than 2 different cultures),

and who might regard themselves as transcultural, make sense of the concept

transculturalism. We were also interested in examining what kinds of characteristics

emerge that they deem as relevant for a person with a transcultural identity. The final

objective was to extract items out of these reflections that could be part of a scale

assessing transcultural identity.

Within the scope of the current project, a total of three focus groups (with up to 5

participants in each group) were conducted. One focus group was composed of stu-

dents with multicultural experiences and the two other included members of ACM

with multicultural backgrounds and who also interact with people from different cul-

tures on a daily basis due to their work. Focus groups are discussion groups in which

people are asked about their perceptions and opinions about a particular issue. They

allow participants to interact with each other and stimulate each other’s thoughts

which can produce new insights that would not be possible without the interaction

(Lindlof & Taylor, 2002). This is highly beneficial for the investigation of more abstract


18

and difficult topics such as transculturalism. The focus group session in this study

started with a brief introduction and was followed by a presentation about multicultur-

alism and the main concepts as derived from the literature (e.g., bicultural and

transcultural identity). Participants were then asked to write down answers to some

key questions in regard to the main topic (e.g., do you see yourself as a transcultural

individual? If so, why?) which was followed up by a group discussion. The aim was to

examine to what extent participants shared an understanding of transculturalism as

proposed by the literature and whether they could provide personal and concrete ex-

amples of what transcultural identity means to them.

The preliminary results showed that participants largely agreed with the definition

of transculturalism as suggested in the literature. For instance, they regarded it as a

lifelong learning process that ultimately leads to a unique identity. However, there

were also aspects mentioned that are usually not part of the definition of transcul-

turalism. One example that was strongly voiced was the risk of experiencing identity

confusion for people with transcultural identities. The social psychological literature

has already suggested that processing multiple cultural experiences and integrating

them into the self can be experienced as highly stressful (cf. Ward, Stuart, & Kus,

2011). Whether this aspect is part of developing a transcultural identity or rather a

consequence of it, still remains to be answered. Nevertheless, this study provides

some new insights into what transculturalism means to laypeople and how they ex-

perience a transcultural identity.

Implications for research and practice

The concept of transculturalism opens a number of new possibilities for research.

Since transcultural individuals develop new non-culture specific meta-cognitions in an

autonomous and conscious way, it is conceivable that their cognitive structure allows

for more creative thinking (Lücke et al., 2013). In fact, research on biculturalism has

already found evidence for the notion that bicultural experience enhances creative

thinking (e.g., Maddux, Adam & Galinsky, 2010). Yet, we suggest that it may not be

the bicultural socialization in the form of dual language proficiency or socio-cultural

skills as such that facilitates creativity and innovation, but that underlying these re-

sults is a form of transculturalism that bicultural individuals may develop. The devel-

opment of a scale that assesses transcultural identities, as it is the goal of the project

presented here is a first step towards empirically assessing the relative predictive

power of biculturalism versus transculturalism on creativity.


19

It has been suggested that individuals with a transcultural identity are character-

ized by special psychological characteristics and competencies such as perspective

consciousness which is the ability to question constantly the source of one’s cultural

assumptions and ethical judgments, leading to the habit of seeing things through the

eyes of others (Slimbach, 2006). This is a highly valuable characteristic in intercul-

tural contact situations in order to avoid cultural misunderstandings. If future research

ascertains that transcultural individuals show indeed this kind of psychological char-

acteristic, a goal for culture competence trainings might be to stimulate the develop-

ment of transculturalism or a bird’s eye perspective on cultural differences and simi-

larities.

Researchers dealing with acculturation processes have also suggested that ad-

aptation to the host culture may involve creative forms of acculturation in the sense

that new cultural forms can be stimulated that are not found in either of the cultures in

contact (Berry, 2003). This resembles very much the transculturalism perspective ad-

vocated here, yet, to the best of our knowledge, no systematic social psychological

research has been conducted to examine whether multiple acculturation experiences

may in some instances yield something completely different than the acculturation

strategies proposed in the literature. It might be that current acculturation models,

such as Berry’s (2003) two-dimensional model of origin cultural identity maintenance

and host culture adoption, need to be re-conceptualized to do justice to the more

complex reality of multicultural individuals.

From a more applied perspective, there are numerous questions that arise from

this topic. For instance, psychologists and social workers working in the field need to

adjust to a society that becomes increasingly globalized. Therefore, the likelihood to

deal with migrants and different cultural backgrounds increases substantially. It might

be that professionals who have a transcultural identity themselves adjust more easily

to this diversity and find more innovative solutions to problems caused by cultural

differences than mono-cultural colleagues. As a consequence, a goal in human re-

sources management may become to select transcultural individuals for specific

tasks that require transcultural competencies to ensure the best possible fit between

a person and the task at hand.

These are just some of many examples that illustrate the potential of this new

identity concept for future research and its implication for practice.


20

Conclusion

International migration has always been part of human history, yet the 21st cen-

tury is special in the sense that industrialization and technological advancements

have made it much easier, cheaper and quicker to go to different places around the

globe. As a consequence, many migrants no longer live and work in just one foreign

country, but have multiple acculturation experiences throughout their lives. In a simi-

lar vein, families become more common in which parents are from different countries

and raise their children in a cultural context that is again different to their own cultural

origin. These new migration and family models, which are characterized by multiple

cultural experience and heritage, do not correspond well to the biculturalism perspec-

tive that is still so widely advocated in the psychological literature in order to explain

the formation of cultural identities (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005) and accultura-

tion processes (Berry, 2003). We foresee the need of a paradigm change in order to

respond to the new globalized reality and the emerging multicultural and psychologi-

cal phenomena of our century.

References

Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII): Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73, 1015-1049. doi:10.1111/j.1467- -6494.2005.00337.x.

Benet-Martínez, V., & Hong, Y-Y. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of multi-cultural identity: Basic and applied psychological perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Benet-Martínez, V., Leu, J., Lee, F., & Morris, M. W. (2002).Negotiating biculturalism: Cultural frame switching in biculturals with oppositional versus compatible cultural identities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 492-516. doi:10.1177/0022022102033005005.

Berry, J. W. (2003). Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In K. M. Chun & P. B. Organista (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement and Applied Research (pp. 17-37). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Cuccioletta, D. (2001/02). Multiculturalism or transculturalism: Towards a cosmopolitan citizen-ship, London Journal of Canadian Studies, 17, 1-11.

Cushner, K., & Brislin, R. (1996). Intercultural Interactions: A Practical Guide (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Deschamps, J. C., & Devos, T. (1998). Regarding the relationship between social identity and personal identity. In S. Worchel, J. F. Morales, D. Paez, & J. C. Deschamps (Eds.), Social identity: International perspectives (pp. 1-12). London: Sage Publications.

Epstein, M. N. (2009). Transculture: A broad way between globalism and multiculturalism. American Journal of Economics & Sociology, 68.1, 327-351.

Koltko-Rivera, Mark E. (2004). The Psychology of Worldviews. Review of General Psychology, 2004, 8, 3-58.

Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2002). Qualitative Communication Research Methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.


21

Lücke, G., Kostova, T., & Roth, K. (2013). Multiculturalism from a cognitive perspective: Pat-terns and implications. Journal of International Business Studies, 45, 169-190. doi:10.1057/ /jibs.2013.53.

Maddux, W. W., Adam, H., & Galinsky, A. D. (2010). When in Rome... Learn why the Romans do what they do: How multicultural learning experiences facilitate creativity. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 731-741. doi:10.1177/0146167210367786.

Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2008). Culture and Psychology (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson- -Wadsworth.

Nguyen, A. D., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2007). Biculturalism unpacked: Components, measure-ment, individual differences, and outcomes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 101-114. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00029.x.

Oyserman, D., Elmore, K., & Smith, G. (2012). Self, self-concept, and identity. In M. Leary & J. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (2nd ed., pp. 69-104). New York: Guilford.

Steger, M. B. (2003). Globalization: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ward, C., & Kennedy, A. (1994). Acculturation strategies, psychological adjustment, and so-ciocultural competence during cross-cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 18, 329-343.

Ward, C., Stuart, J., & Kus, L. (2011). The construction and validation of a measure of Ethno-cultural Identity Conflict. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93, 462-73. doi:10.1080/00223891.2011.558872.

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Nú

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ED IÇÕ ES S ÍL A B O

Re

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ta

TRANSCULTURAL

APPPT is a non-profit organization established in 2002. Its founding goals consisted in the deve-

lopment of clinical research that emphasized the cultural dimension of mental health and illness,

and the reflection on health care practices provided to immigrants and ethnic minorities. Thus, its

specific objectives consist in ( ) raising awareness to the issues of transcultural mental health; ( )

furthering the training on intercultural skills of professionals in the fields of medical, social and

human sciences, particularly psychology and psychiatry; ( ) adding to the expansion of know-

ledge within the domain of transcultural mental health, including scientific research; and

( ) contributing to the provision of culturally-sensitive mental health services directed to social

minorities, such as migrant populations, ethnic minorities and refugees.

i ii

iii

iv

The present volume is dedicated to the presentation of the research group

Health for All (H4A) at CIS-IUL in the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE-

UL. «Health for All» is the core mission statement of this group, which aims

with its activities to contribute to making health a vital resource equally avail-

able to all individuals regardless of their personal, social, and cultural back-

grounds.

The papers that compose this special volume represent the diversity of

thematic research lines and methodologies, as well as the commitment to

the applied focus of H4A activities. They include issues related to risk percep-

tion and health communication, health of social minorities, promotion of

equality and participation in health-care processes, and the relations

between health and the environment/places.

Overall, the selected papers present an overview of recent contributions

given by the H4A group to better understand and tackle relevant health

related issues, ranging from health inequalities to the promotion of well-

being. They also illustrate its general framework of analysis of health related

topics ( pain, stigma, mental health, eating behaviours) based on psycho-

social processes ( stereotypes; social identities; risk perception; multicul-

tural processes), and how this psychosocial approach may be widely appli-

cable to a variety of health topics and issues.

e.g.

e.g.

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TRANSCULTURAL

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H4A - Edições Sílabo · 1 2014 EDIÇÕES SÍLABO o Revista TRANSCULTURAL APPPT is a non-profit...

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