Page 231 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

Culturally Sensitive and Congruent

Digital Learning Initiatives for Health
Professions across Europe: Towards an

Inclusive European Professional Mobility

Manuel Lillo-Crespo
Universidad de Alicante, Spain
manuel.lillo@ua.es

The importance of digital education seems to have gained momentum since
Covid-19 pandemic especially in the field of health professions. Since then
more innovative options, new terms, frameworks and uses, introduced in this
chapter, have emerged with the aim to assure at least the same quality as the
face-to-face traditional educational approaches and recently by including the
culturally competent perspective. This progress may contribute positively by
avoiding high expenses for organizations and promoting values in digital edu-
cation such as equity, inclusion and diversity recognition, even when mobility
restrictions happen for any reason. The chapter presents the routing guide to
developing culturally sensitive and congruent digital learning initiatives for
health professionals, according to international organizations and experts,
that could be applied worldwide, by outlining the experiential learning and
good practices from projects conducted across Europe.
Keywords: Digital health, Cultural Competency, Europe; Education, [Diversity,
Equity, Inclusion]
© 5 Manuel Lillo-Crespo
https://doi.org/1.6493/978-961-93-467-5.13

Introduction
Even though many authors have published on this, a culturally sensitive
learning context could be understood broadly as a welcoming environment
for people of all cultures, where everyone feels recognised, safe and respect-
ed, with inclusion of their similarities and differences, free from bias and
prejudice (Nijhuis, 19). Cultural Sensitivity is defined as being aware that
cultural differences and similarities between people exist without assigning
them a value – positive or negative, better or worse, right or wrong – result-
ing in acceptance, adaptation and integration (Foronda, 8). Moreover,
cultural congruence is a process of effective interaction between the pro-
vider – understood as the heath professional or the educator – and client

Klančar, A., Štemberger, T., Prosen, M., & Ličen, S. (Eds.). (2025). International Perspectives
on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education. University of Primorska Press.