Culture: How It Is Related to Health
Grand Canyon University
Family Centered Health Promotion
NRS-429V
Shauna Wise
September 7, 2014
Culture: How It Is Related to Health
As nurses we encounter people every day from a variety of cultures, in healthcare our understanding of each patient’s cultural values will help guide us in providing care that is individualized and respectful while at the same time providing evidence based care that is safe for our patients. To provide culturally competent care to patients nurses must be aware of their own culture before they can be aware of others cultures, each culture views health, wellness, illness and healthcare workers in a different light (Edelman, Kudzma, & Mandle, 2014, Chapter 2).
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Growing up in New Mexico we also use green chile as a method to promote health and also use when we are sick to help recover from illnesses such as colds and other viruses. We believe that health insurance is required in order to maintain health and have access to full health benefits, when time occurred that we did not have health insurance we were unsure of how to access medical care appropriately. In our family we have a long history of Baptist as our religion, we rely heavily on prayer and faith especially when health issues arise.
When providing care ensuring that care is given that is based on patients cultural preferences will help the patient heal and will help nurses develop care plans that involve the patient and their family with cultural awareness. Cultural awareness is vital when educating patients about health issues, for the education to be effective and include health promotion nurses must first become aware of how their patient perceives illness and what measures are needed to ensure the patient will be compliant with health changes (Edelman et al., 2014, Chapter 2). Another difference is cultural health traditions is the use of health insurance, many families are still without health insurance and unable to access healthcare when needed and that is when they turn to their heritage for healing methods. According the Healthy People 2020 the goal is to make healthcare affordable and available to all Americans regardless of age, race, gender
“Health is influenced by culture and beliefs” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). In order for the nurse to properly care for the patient, she must know and understand the patient’s culture. “Cultural care is a comprehensive model that includes the assessment of a client’s cultural needs, beliefs, and health care practices” (NRS-429V, 2011, p. 1). It is not enough to just know where the patient lives or where he came from. The nurse must embrace the concept of cultural competence and cultural awareness. This requires not only the awareness of the cultural beliefs and values of their patients, but also
Utilizing the culture care theory, nurses become knowledgeable of what constitutes health in understanding the meanings and symbols of the ways of culture. Care, caring knowledge, and actions are core components that will ensure the health or wellbeing of people in various cultures. Kaakinen et al (2015) asserts that clients may not be prone to nurse’s suggestions for health promotion because of cultural conflicts with the client’s belief and value systems.
Health in all cultures is an important aspect of life. A person’s cultural background, religion and/or beliefs, greatly influences a person’s health and their response to medical care (Spector, 2004). These diverse cultures guide decisions made in daily life; what food eaten, living arrangements made, medications taken and medical advice listened to. A nurse must be knowledgeable and respectful of these diverse cultures and understand their importance when providing care. This understanding helps to build a strong nurse/patient relationship, increasing patient compliance, which ensures positive outcomes are met. Patients who are satisfied
Both articles express how important it is to be culturally self-aware and in touch with your personal beliefs, views, and morals. If you aren’t aware of what your cultural beliefs are you won’t be able to provide you patients with the cultural care and respect that they require in their recovery to become healthy again. In addition, the two articles (Newson 2009, Byrson 2012) both talk about how important it is to be open minded with people who may have a different opinions and views on certain things. If you aren’t open to treating you patients in the cultural way that they want to be treated, your patient will feel disrespected and unimportant. Therefore, their health will suffer because of your incompetence to accommodate their cultural needs. A nurse needs to be culturally self-aware, they need to know what their own personal views are first so they can understand that not everyone’s views will be the same. This means they need to be capable of being open and accepting to other people’s cultural wants and needs. By being these two things you will be able to provide people of all cultures with the respect and treatment they
The term culture is defined as “the thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups” (Potter & Perry, 2013). With the increase of culturally diverse populations in the United States, it is important for nurses to practice cultural competence. Cultural competence is the ability to acquire specific behaviors, skills, attitudes, and policies in a system that permits “effective work in a cross-cultural setting” (OMH, 2013). Being culturally competent is essential because nurses who acknowledges and respects a patient’s health beliefs and practices are more likely to have positive health outcomes (OMH, 2012). Every culture has certain views and attitudes concerning
In order to deliver nursing care to different cultures, nurses are expected to understand and provide culturally competent health care to diverse individuals. Culturally competent care is tailored to the specific needs of each client, while incorporating the individual’s beliefs and values (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2006, p. 90). By being culturally competent, nurses are able to help improve health outcomes by using cultural knowledge and specific skills in selecting interventions that are specific to each client (Stanhope & Lancaster). Therefore, nurses “should perform a cultural assessment on every client with whom they interact with” (Stanhope &
The nursing profession is known for being a caring and compassionate career path that is loving and accepting of all individuals. The traits of many of us are based on our cultural background and therefore it is important to be culturally aware of different traditions and preferences pertaining to cultures that we directly interact with. Both taking into consideration the patient’s culture and recognizing the impact of one’s own personal beliefs are competencies that a nurse should demonstrate and are listed under the first standard of practice according to the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015).
With the large increase multicultural population in the United States, nurses encounter patients with differences in healthcare beliefs, values and customs. To provide adequate nursing care, nurses must be aware of these differences. They must respect and acknowledge the patient’s culture. To do this, nurses need education on cultural competence to ensure patient satisfaction and better patient outcomes.
Equality in everything, including health issues, has to be the main feature of the modern world. National health programs of the US operate to ensure adequate and timely treatment of all citizens. Nevertheless, health indicators of some racial and ethnic groups are significantly worse than of the white Americans. It applies to the Hispanic Americans and significantly affects their lives. The current health status of this minority is far from satisfactory and needs improvements through existing programs and the development of new approaches to address
As nurses, we adjust our care accordingly to each patient. It is vital that we not only assess our patients physically, but assess all aspects of their lives, including their cultures. For this paper I will discuss the key components of a comprehensive cultural assessment. I will also choose two of the key components and discuss my own culture and how it affects my attitude to culturally diverse care. Last, I will identify two nursing diagnoses that would relate to a patient with a culture other than my own, as well as give proper interventions.
Health promotion summary. Holbrook, Arizona is a rural community of 5,000 in Arizona that borders the Navajo Nation. Although the population is 38% Navajo, the local school district is Title I (indicating high poverty levels), with a student demographic of roughly 64% Navajo (HUSD3, 2014). Significant disadvantage and unique cultural environments generate a sample population unlike previous public health initiatives concerning tobacco; thus, a multi-leveled approach is appropriate to address tobacco use in the community setting (Hawkins et al., 2008). The aim of this promotion, Cutting the Slack, is to use the community as a facilitator to forge a sustainable program that fosters a protracted tobacco-free community youth environment. Use of local health professionals to train identified leaders among teens and adolescents as change agents promotes community buy-in (Latkin & Knowlton, 2015). Peer advocates have the ability to increase self-agency by promoting personal achievements
Health is defined a state of wellbeing which is equally viewed by many different cultures. However, the definition of wellbeing is seen differently among cultures, in relationship to their beliefs and values. (DeNisco & Barker, 2015). Cultural care in nursing is a very important part of nursing care, whether the nurse is a bedside RN or a practicing primary care NP. There are many theories in nursing related to cultural care. Most encompass the need for nurses to take into consideration the cultural caring behaviors and values of individuals and families to provide culturally competent nursing care.
Nowadays, nurses not only need to know how to care of their patients, but they also must be able to care of patients from other cultures with many beliefs and values. Cultural views of individual influence the patient’s perception and decision of health and health care (Creasia & Parker, 2007). In order to care for people across different languages and cultures, nurses need to develop cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and skills.
A nurse is a professional that has been involved in educational preparations as well as long and in-depth specialised training in relation to taking care of the sick. Health promotion is an activity that encourages people to improve their physical, mental and social well-being. Nurses play an adequate role in promoting health. As stated by Health Promotion International, “their role as promoters of health is more complex, since they have multi-disciplinary knowledge and experience of health promotion in their nursing practice.”
Today when people move across continents with the help of technology their culture and heritage moves along with them. Almost each and every continent is populated with people from different nations who have diverse traditions and cultures. Thus knowledge of health traditions and culture plays a vital role in nursing. People from different cultures have a unique view on health and illness. Culture-specific care is a vital skill to the modern nurse, as the United States continues to consist of many immigrants who have become assimilated into one culture. I interviewed three families of different cultures: - Indian (my culture), Hispanic and Chinese. Let us see the differences in health traditions between these cultures.