Engaging the unengaged: lessons from a culturally informed workshop framed around Traveller health

Cultural models aim to support equitable and culturally meaningful healthcare. Cultural competence, cultural humility, and cultural safety are key examples of these models, equipping medical professionals with tools for effective patient care that extend beyond knowledge and skills. Importantly, the use of cultural models fosters an understanding that encourages individuals to reflect on how care is delivered. This reflective practice helps develop awareness of power imbalances and may contribute to reducing health inequities. The Traveller community, an indigenous ethnic minority with documented discrimination and excess health inequities, is an example of a group where culturally informed practice is essential. Limited research explores undergraduate medical students' understanding of cultural models generally or Traveller health as an example of culture specifically. In previous work completed by the authors, we identified an 'unlearning' needed in postgraduate medical training around cultural models and thus aimed to explore if this could be avoided at the undergraduate stage. We designed an educational workshop, and piloted delivery alongside a cultural mentor for the Northern Ireland Traveller community, to explore understanding of cultural models and cultural mentorship. Despite low engagement, feedback demonstrated that cultural mentorship and structured exploration of cultural models can prompt reflective learning among medical students. Participants identified a need for ongoing self-reflection when working with minority communities and highlighted gaps in prior knowledge of health amongst Traveller communities. Low uptake underscores challenges in attracting students to unfamiliar topics and in engagement with culturally informed education.