Program Brief
Diversity is More Than Demographics Darcel M. Reyes, RN, PhD (c) Eric A. Fenkl, RN, PhD Key words: common similarities, cultural differences, population characteristics
T
he Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Diversity Committee sponsored a roundtable entitled FACES: Fostering Awareness of Cultural Equity and Solidarity at the ANAC conference on November 7, 2014. The goal of the roundtable was to solicit members’ thoughts about the meaning of diversity through interactive exercises. Participants felt it would be valuable to share their roundtable experience with the membership. In our first exercise, participants introduced themselves without identifying titles, jobs, professions, or degrees. Although we were a diverse group in terms of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, no participant used these terms to describe him or herself to the group. Participants’ self-descriptions focused on relationships and passions, not demographics. Responses included: ‘‘I am a person of faith,’’ ‘‘I fight for social justice,’’ ‘‘I am a person who loves people and wants to take care of them,’’ and ‘‘I am a person who feels honored by the personal stories that people share with me.’’ The realization that we did not use the usual descriptors moved the group into a discussion about the inadequacy of demographic identifiers as a reflection of one’s culture, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. One participant explained, using her country of origin as an example: It is misleading to make general statements about African culture given the diversity within the continent. In one African country, Cameroon, there are over 230 distinct languages and cultures, so making a general statement about Cameroonian culture would be inaccurate, let alone the whole continent.
Another participant recounted an incident when an older patient said, ‘‘In my day Jews and Negros were not allowed on the same beach as me.’’ The participant initially felt insulted, but on further discussion with the patient, the participant realized the patient was referring to how far society had advanced in terms of overcoming racism and segregation. Another participant, referring to her own religious affiliation, discussed paradigm shifts in religious concepts based on accurate interpretations of sacred texts and not old ideas based on the mores of a different time. Someone else spoke of our assumed definitions of what he referred to as ‘‘macro concepts.’’ For example, when people hear the term ‘‘family,’’ many have a mental picture of a female (mother), male (father), and children. But for many people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, this is not an accurate reflection; family may have a completely different constellation of roles and relationships. These new ideas about what constitutes family are finding greater acceptance in American society. The group agreed that although we still have a long way to go to achieve racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and sexual equity, these examples show a societal trend toward accepting diversity as an integral part of American culture. So how do we define diversity? The roundtable participants were challenged to do this in one sentence. Here are some of the responses: Gumbo The ability to accept and engage individual differences Darcel Reyes, RN, PhD (c), is a Clinical Instructor, School of Nursing, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Eric A. Fenkl, RN, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NURSES IN AIDS CARE, Vol. 26, No. 2, March/April 2015, 199-200 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2014.12.001 Copyright Ó 2015 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
200 JANAC Vol. 26, No. 2, March/April 2015
Respect for the individual’s value Diversity unites us rather than divides us Cultural diversity reflects our common humanity and strength when we respect our authentic selves Diversity is everybody working together without prejudices See me as an individual person Accept people for who they are without making judgments More unites us than divides us The range of ways humans express themselves with respect to customs and beliefs.
being, but a constantly evolving process that requires life-long experiential learning. Fourth, the ‘‘work’’ of diversity includes the acknowledgement that we all have unrecognized biases that we cannot resolve until we have opportunities to confront them. Roundtable participants suggested that one way we can manage our biases is to accept the realization that we do not know all the factors that impact our own lives, so it is impossible to define or categorize another person. Finally, roundtable participants concluded that diversity is the one true thing we all share and it is much more than just the accumulated demographic descriptions of human beings within an organization or a country.
Conclusion Disclosures In exploring the thought processes that lead to participants’ definitions of diversity, five lessons emerged. First, HIV nurses have 27 years of experience in diversity training because our specialty allows us the opportunity to meet and experience human diversity at each patient and professional encounter. This ‘‘on-the-job training’’ places ANAC members in a unique position to role model engagement in diversity to our colleagues. Second, ANAC can be an exemplar for other organizations seeking to become more diverse because of our advocacy for the rights of underserved or marginalized patient populations and the diversity of our members. Third, diversity is not a static state of
The authors report no real or perceived vested interests that relate to this article that could be construed as a conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the members who participated in the FACES roundtable and the Diversity and Equity Committee of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. The authors want to thank Ms. Willie Roberts for suggesting that we share the conclusions of the FACES roundtable.
Diversity is More Than Demographics Darcel M. Reyes, RN, PhD (c) Eric A. Fenkl, RN, PhD Key words: common similarities, cultural differences, population characteristics
T
he Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Diversity Committee sponsored a roundtable entitled FACES: Fostering Awareness of Cultural Equity and Solidarity at the ANAC conference on November 7, 2014. The goal of the roundtable was to solicit members’ thoughts about the meaning of diversity through interactive exercises. Participants felt it would be valuable to share their roundtable experience with the membership. In our first exercise, participants introduced themselves without identifying titles, jobs, professions, or degrees. Although we were a diverse group in terms of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, no participant used these terms to describe him or herself to the group. Participants’ self-descriptions focused on relationships and passions, not demographics. Responses included: ‘‘I am a person of faith,’’ ‘‘I fight for social justice,’’ ‘‘I am a person who loves people and wants to take care of them,’’ and ‘‘I am a person who feels honored by the personal stories that people share with me.’’ The realization that we did not use the usual descriptors moved the group into a discussion about the inadequacy of demographic identifiers as a reflection of one’s culture, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. One participant explained, using her country of origin as an example: It is misleading to make general statements about African culture given the diversity within the continent. In one African country, Cameroon, there are over 230 distinct languages and cultures, so making a general statement about Cameroonian culture would be inaccurate, let alone the whole continent.
Another participant recounted an incident when an older patient said, ‘‘In my day Jews and Negros were not allowed on the same beach as me.’’ The participant initially felt insulted, but on further discussion with the patient, the participant realized the patient was referring to how far society had advanced in terms of overcoming racism and segregation. Another participant, referring to her own religious affiliation, discussed paradigm shifts in religious concepts based on accurate interpretations of sacred texts and not old ideas based on the mores of a different time. Someone else spoke of our assumed definitions of what he referred to as ‘‘macro concepts.’’ For example, when people hear the term ‘‘family,’’ many have a mental picture of a female (mother), male (father), and children. But for many people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, this is not an accurate reflection; family may have a completely different constellation of roles and relationships. These new ideas about what constitutes family are finding greater acceptance in American society. The group agreed that although we still have a long way to go to achieve racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and sexual equity, these examples show a societal trend toward accepting diversity as an integral part of American culture. So how do we define diversity? The roundtable participants were challenged to do this in one sentence. Here are some of the responses: Gumbo The ability to accept and engage individual differences Darcel Reyes, RN, PhD (c), is a Clinical Instructor, School of Nursing, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Eric A. Fenkl, RN, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NURSES IN AIDS CARE, Vol. 26, No. 2, March/April 2015, 199-200 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2014.12.001 Copyright Ó 2015 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
200 JANAC Vol. 26, No. 2, March/April 2015
Respect for the individual’s value Diversity unites us rather than divides us Cultural diversity reflects our common humanity and strength when we respect our authentic selves Diversity is everybody working together without prejudices See me as an individual person Accept people for who they are without making judgments More unites us than divides us The range of ways humans express themselves with respect to customs and beliefs.
being, but a constantly evolving process that requires life-long experiential learning. Fourth, the ‘‘work’’ of diversity includes the acknowledgement that we all have unrecognized biases that we cannot resolve until we have opportunities to confront them. Roundtable participants suggested that one way we can manage our biases is to accept the realization that we do not know all the factors that impact our own lives, so it is impossible to define or categorize another person. Finally, roundtable participants concluded that diversity is the one true thing we all share and it is much more than just the accumulated demographic descriptions of human beings within an organization or a country.
Conclusion Disclosures In exploring the thought processes that lead to participants’ definitions of diversity, five lessons emerged. First, HIV nurses have 27 years of experience in diversity training because our specialty allows us the opportunity to meet and experience human diversity at each patient and professional encounter. This ‘‘on-the-job training’’ places ANAC members in a unique position to role model engagement in diversity to our colleagues. Second, ANAC can be an exemplar for other organizations seeking to become more diverse because of our advocacy for the rights of underserved or marginalized patient populations and the diversity of our members. Third, diversity is not a static state of
The authors report no real or perceived vested interests that relate to this article that could be construed as a conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the members who participated in the FACES roundtable and the Diversity and Equity Committee of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. The authors want to thank Ms. Willie Roberts for suggesting that we share the conclusions of the FACES roundtable.
