Building cultural competence in a interdisciplinary community service-learning project.

Since 1992, 120 medical, nursing, social work and public health students have participated in an interdisciplinary community service-learning seminar held on-site at a community health center in Hawai'i. During this time, the community health center staff who teach this course have developed and adapted a range of didactic and experiential methods for building cultural competence. The community faculty selects a diverse, multiethnic team of health professions students who form a "learning laboratory" as they plan and implement health education at a neighborhood elementary school serving an Asian and Pacifican community. We report here on a qualitative evaluation of a model for teaching cross-cultural competence that utilizes structured experiential lessons, service-learning in a community setting, and interdisciplinary training.