Written assignmentCultural competence

Hays ADDRESSING Model Essay

Ten factors, and the useful analysis is about where you sit in the majority. Privilege is hardest to see precisely where you have never had to think about it.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 23, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
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Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

The majority positions are the hard ones to see

The model is useful because it is a checklist rather than a conversation, and a checklist reaches the factors you would not have raised. Work all ten even where the answer feels uninteresting, because the uninteresting ones are the point. Where you sit in the cultural minority you have almost certainly already thought about that membership, often at length, and you can say what it taught you. Where you sit in the majority you have probably not had to think about it at all, and that unexamined position is where the clinical risk lives. A clinician who has never needed to consider physical access, or who has never had a religious observance conflict with an appointment time, will not think to ask about either. A checklist reaches the factors you would never raise in conversation, which is why the model takes this form and why skipping any of them defeats it.

The brief then asks about two directions and both deserve attention. Working with people of similar background carries a specific risk that is easy to miss: assumed understanding, where shared membership leads a clinician to fill in a client's meaning from their own experience instead of asking. Working across difference carries the more familiar risks of misinterpretation and of a client managing the clinician's comfort rather than their own material. For each factor you identify, say what you would actually do differently, since a self-assessment with no practice consequence is an exercise in disclosure. Useful answers are concrete: what you would ask rather than assume, when you would consult or refer, and what you would name in the room. Note also that the factors intersect, so a client's experience of any one of them is shaped by the others, and treating the ten as a list of separate boxes misses that.

Likely learning objectives

Complete a structured cultural self-assessment across all ten factors.
Identify unexamined majority positions as the site of clinical risk.
Recognise assumed understanding as a risk of shared membership.
Convert self-assessment into specific practice changes.

Assignment instructions

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Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Assignment Hays ADDRESSING Model Essay Hays ADDRESSING Model Essay Introduction All of us have multifaceted cultural identities, so you are likely to have experienced situations where you were in the cultural majority as well as others where you were in the cultural minority. This assignment will help you consider the influence of your cultural memberships on your ability to work professionally with people of similar cultural backgrounds, as well as with people from different cultural backgrounds. All clinicians have biases. Failure to recognize these biases creates harm. It takes more strength to acknowledge your biases than to argue that you have none. Dr. Pamela Hays developed the ADDRESSING model to help psychologists recognize 10 major factors of cultural difference that are common in the United States: Age (and generational influences), Developmental and acquired Disabilities, Religion and spiritual identity, Ethnicity and racial identity, Socioeconomic status, Sexual orientation, Indigenous heritage, National origin, and Gender. Note that this list is not comprehensive; there are thousands of different cultural identities in our country. The ADDRESSING model just sums up the 10 most common points of cultural difference. Instructions Use the Hays ADDRESSING Model Template linked in Resources to conduct a cultural self-assessment that describes your identity in all elements of the Hays ADDRESSING model. You must complete and submit the Hays ADDRESSING Model Template provided for this assignment. Do not submit a paper. Papers will not be graded. For more information about the Hays ADDRESSING model, review Hays’s article, “Looking Into the Clinician’s Mirror: Cultural Self-Assessment,” linked in Resources. After completing the table on the template, review your entries and then respond to the three questions posed below the table in the template. There are no right or wrong responses for this assignment. You will be graded on your insight and ability to recognize the implications of your privilege and biases when you work with others. Assignment Hays ADDRESSING Model Essay Additional Requirements Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message. Format: Use the Hays ADDRESSING Model Template in Resources. Use current APA style and formatting guidelines as applicable to this assignment. Font: Arial, 12 points. Submit the completed template no later than 11:59 p.m. (CST) on Sunday. Resources Self-Reflection: Hays ADDRESSING Model Scoring Guide. Hays ADDRESSING Model Template [DOC]. Important information for writing discussion questions and participationHi Class, Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts. Contact me if you have any questions. Important information on Writing a Discussion Question Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references) There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article. Include in-text citations in your response Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information Follow APA-7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week. Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references) Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count. Follow APA 7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points. Here are some helpful links Student paper example Citing Sources The Writing Center is a great resource

Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

Welcome to class Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to. I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you. Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations. Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements. Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week. I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

What the ADDRESSING assignment requires

01A completed Hays ADDRESSING model template.
02Consideration of the influence of your cultural memberships on working with similar backgrounds.
03Consideration of the influence on working with people from different cultural backgrounds.
04Engagement with all ten factors of the model.