The Community Quality Use of Medicines (CQUM) Program is a national program set up to help consumers learn about medicines and their wise use. Some of its activities are aimed at the Australian community in general, while others, such as the Multicultural Program, are aimed at particular sections of the community.

When the CQUM staff began planning the Multicultural Program they were faced with the tricky problem of how best to use their limited resources to design projects that would help as many people as possible from multicultural communities to develop their knowledge, skills and attitudes about medicines. This is not an easy task in view of Australia’s incredible diversity of multicultural communities, and the sheer number of languages and people involved.

A common response has been to produce materials in the first language of some of the larger multicultural communities. The CQUM Program included this approach, and produced quality use of medicines materials in Chinese, Greek, Italian and Vietnamese. However, they then went one step further. They collaborated with the Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES) in Victoria to develop a teaching module that can be used in English language classes.

The Get to Know Your Medicines teacher’s activity book.

The teaching module comprises six story books, a teacher’s activity book, and a cassette tape or CD containing the stories and student exercises.

Each story book covers one aspect of the quality use of medicines, so students acquire the English vocabulary and language skills needed to talk about health, while learning about medicines and their use in Australia. In the words of two students:

‘I think it is important to know what are the effects before you take the medicine. We didn’t worry about it before in our country.’

‘I think I need more information about medicine and about doctors … This book tells me how to use medicine and about the doctor and a lot of questions.’

The teachers thought the teaching materials had another bonus for the students:

‘They are more confident and more knowledgeable about medicines in general and therefore happy to talk to the doctor or pharmacist.’

Linking with English language classes has enabled the CQUM Multicultural Program to spread its messages to hundreds of people from small and emerging multicultural communities. Most of these people would have been difficult to reach through the usual health promotion methods.

It has also provided teaching materials that can be adapted in a variety of ways, without the need for translating. For example, the module can be used by facilitators and trainers undertaking quality use of medicines activities with community groups.

The teaching module has been distributed to providers of adult migrant English classes throughout Australia. Paper copies can be bought at cost price online from AMES Victoria or download copies for free.