Date of Award

12-2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Executive Leadership

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to discover the knowledge, behaviors, and skills that foster cross-cultural competence in transnational medical education partnership and to unite the research process with theory development. Selected literature and a modicum of concepts limited the framing of this study from an existing theoretical framework. Such a framework would have been useful in providing the basis for training of health care professionals involved in transnational ventures. To accomplish this, the research used a qualitative grounded theory approach to explore the experiences of twenty-five professionals involved in transnational medical education partnership. The research was conducted at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Interviews served as the main source for the study. Narrative inquiry consisted of audio-recording, documentation, and analyses of the individual accounts and experiences of the participants. The study contributed to knowledge and practice and created a theoretical model of cross-cultural competence, which is generalizable to what professionals should know, be, and do. This model was based on the principles: Know thyself, be a moral agent, strive for relational transparency, possess generosity of spirit, practice reflectivity, be mindful and adaptable, and promote human dignity. The pillars are: Recognition respect, evaluative respect, mutual generativity, and conscious conscientiousness. The study provided recommendations aimed at assisting health care professionals in the development of knowledge, behaviors, and skills for effective cross-cultural competencies necessary for maintaining successful partnership. It will also influence other researchers who design studies to test the theory in practice and provide theory for health care professionals requiring extensive cross-cultural competence to engage and collaborate successfully. Lastly, the study contributed to the literature on cross-cultural competence in transnational medical education partnership.

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