Challenge 1 - Self-Reflection Tool

Welcome to Challenge 1. To start this campaign, we would like to encourage you to reflect on your own cultural competence, to identify your strengths and any areas for development.

Complete the self-reflection tool, developed by Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE), as honestly as you can.

MPharm students self-reflection tool

We would like you to consider how confident you feel to be open and non-judgemental, to sensitively ask questions when you may not understand or know a person’s beliefs, needs, values or concerns, to respond with sensitivity, and demonstrate dignity and respect.

Cultural competence is a skill, and like any skill, is learnt and developed over time. Our personal attitudes, life experiences, interactions, and backgrounds may all influence, or bias, our confidence, and perceptions of interactions with people. Developing cultural competence should be considered a life-long journey. We will not always have the right answers, know everything, or be an expert in all aspects of culture or religious beliefs. What is important is that we strive to improve and seek greater understanding to meet the needs of all those in our care.

This tool is not a test; it has been designed to help you identify your strengths and any areas for development in your own cultural competence. Developing your cultural competence is a journey and how far you progress in the journey is more important than your starting point. We will revisit the self-reflection tool again at the end of the campaign so you can see how far you have progressed. 

Over the course of this campaign, as you become increasingly aware of what it means to be culturally competent, you may begin to question values and beliefs that you may have knowingly or unknowingly held for years.

This can be challenging and upsetting. Make sure you have someone that you can talk to if you have any concerns, or contact Pharmacist Support for advice.

Alternatively, all NHS Staff in Wales can contact Health for Health Professionals Wales for additional self-help, peer support, or virtual face-to-face therapies.