Helath Promotion Eassy

The effective patient-centered, culturally competent, holistic care can be provided only by culturally competent nurses, able to “recognize and understand the differences in their culture and the culture of others; to respect other 's values, beliefs, and expectations.”(Edelman, Kudzma, Mandle, 2014). In order to provide quality, safe and efficient care and meet patient 's needs, nurses must expand their cultural knowledge, be aware about patient 's culture, and have “an honest desire to disregard personal biases and to treat every person with respect.“(Edelman, Kudzma, Mandle, 2014). The Heritage Assessment Tool (HAT) was introduced by Rachel Spector in 2000. This tool assists “to determine both inter and intra-ethnic group differences in respect to a given heritage and also to traditional health and illness beliefs and practices:” (Spector). The HAT is a combination of twenty nine questions, aimed to gather information from different families: about the family members, place of birth, relationship within the family, language, beliefs, traditions and etc. The information, gathered during the HAT interviews, is useful to understand more about the patient 's culture, beliefs, traditions, spiritual beliefs, patient 's understanding of health and illness before starting the care and developing an individual care plan related to health maintenance, health protection with health restoration. According to R. Spector, being “culturally sensitive, culturally appropriate, and

These religious and spiritual influences play a major role in the Hispanics health, illness and daily life. In much a similar manner, the Native American Indian family adopts the cultural beliefs to associate with illness and health. They believe that a person’s state of exists when he or she exists in harmony with nature and sickness occurs when an imbalance between the natural or supernatural forces and the sick individual exists (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). Traditional health believes and practices involving healing ceremonies and rituals restore balance when illness happens. “These can be conducted by their traditional medicine men or women, who are thought to have compelling powers, the ability to read minds, and know-how in concocting medicine, drugs and poisons.” For the white young family, the cultural belief of invincibility and youth are the driving force behind health prevention (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). “Focus on the temporary is regularised, while thinking about health is assigned to an adult person where family accountabilities pertain.” Protecting against illness or disease does not feature into their daily lives. Disease or illness is something that is insubstantial and distant, and unimaginable to their young, resilient bodies and thus irrelevant (Edelman & Mandle, 2010).

Culture is a very important aspect for health care professionals to examine when interacting with their clients. By having an understanding of different cultural practices, a clinician can more effectively treat a patient. Kagawa-Singer, M. & Kassim-Lakha, S. (2003) theorizes that patients resist lifestyle changes, and culture forms lifestyle. Therefore, if physicians attend to the influence of culture on health behavior, outcomes of medical care might well be improved.

Evaluation of how family subscribes to these traditions and practices is offered in detail, while offering insight and/or reflection.It is essential for nurses to provide culturally sensitive care to each and every patient in order to establish repor and maintain a safe working relationship with each individual. To provide culturally sensitive care to a nurses patient’s he or she must first assess their own beliefs, values, and culture at large. The nurse can do this by using the Heritage Assessment Tool. This tool shows the nurse how important their heritage is to them and if they have adopted their ways of life from their family’s history and influence. This gives the nurse a starting point

The Heritage Assessment Tool (HST) is used to “investigate a given patient’s or your own ethnic, cultural, and religious heritage…it can help determine how deeply a given person identifies with a particular tradition”. (prenhall.com). This assessment of 29 questions based on family, social, cultural, religious and immigration history can be very helpful in identifying the individual’s health traditions and beliefs, which can promote a more culturally competent R.N. Cultural competency is

Therefore, cultural heritage is the main factor in economic, social, and health promotion of people. Every culture has their own beliefs, values, and perceptions on health and illness. Then, it is imperative for health care providers to assess a cultural heritage on each patient in order to deliver meaningful care for that patient. By using the heritage assessment tool, the three interviewed families revealed some similarities and differences among their health traditions.

Both her parents were born in this country and English is the primary language. Utilizing the heritage assessment tool, one can deduce that she has a relatively strong identification with traditional heritage. Although she is not in contact with her grandparents, she has a strong base of nuclear family support and asserts that the family will always seek family guidance and support before making critical decisions, including those about health care. Her family mostly utilizes traditional Western remedies rather than natural or herbal remedies, however preventive care is not often sought until an illness or symptoms become more intense. Prayer and religious practice are very important to this family and regarded as crucial for positive health outcomes and recovery. The interviewee asserts that she and her family often seek religious counsel and active Bible reading in times of distress. In this family, traditional foods are often prepared including largely fried foods, potatoes, and minimal vegetables. This correlates with many African-American cooking traditions of overcooking greens and frying foods (Gardner, 2012). According to the interviewee, most members of this family do not actively seek preventive care unless there is a more severe problem. This correlates with other studies regarding health behaviors of this culture. Whether it is due to mistrust or discrimination, African Americans do not always access medical care in a timely, preventive oriented

Comparing the three interviews, it is apparent that all three cultures could require a different healthcare approach. It is interesting to see the family dynamics, and pasts all play a role in their healthcare decision-making and thoughts. Being aware that each family dynamic is unique it is important to avoid stereotypes, and get

Health restoration. Many American’s used western type of medicine such as pharmaceuticals to help restore their health; nurses have seen the use of alternative therapies such as yoga, acupuncture, herbs and oils used to try and alleviate pain or halt the disease process, which are all a part of health restorations. Pacific Islander families that

While caring for a new Hispanic mother on a labor and delivery unit I learned about her humoral beliefs of health and illness. In her culture, they believe an imbalance of the hot and cold state of their bodies leaves them susceptible to illness. They treat any illness that they consider hot with cold therapies and vice versa, therefore they maintain homeostasis in their bodies and refrain from sickness. Hot and cold theory of medicine is believed among several different cultures; however, each culture has individualized the practice. Anderson (1987) explains how hot and cold foods are used to treat different illnesses, a balanced meal does not simply mean protein, vegetable, and grain, but it should be a balance of hot, cold, and neutral

Heritage assessment helps patients a chance to express their beliefs, and customs very clearly to the health providers. It also would help to meet the patient’s needs and understand different cultures. Nurses will get a clear image of the patient’s background and that will improve the quality of care and patient outcome through the heritage assessment. When we were child, did not notice that families and friends have different cults. However once become adult realize that everybody has their own different cultures and it is the part of life. The heritage assessments encourage awareness of another’s health practices, beliefs, traditions, and helping to know their own heritage.

Religious and cultural beliefs are aspects that often influence health protection. The Hispanic family the writer interviewed had very strong Catholic religious beliefs. They take part in daily Bible readings, pray numerous times a day, and attend church multiple times a week. This family’s belief, when it came to religion, plays an important role within their health. “Hispanic culture combines religion with a strong belief in spirituality and the supernatural. Saints represent many specialized needs and there are specific ones for cancer, dying, and bodily ills. These spiritual and

Heritage Assessment supports national health along with the cure and prevention of a multitude of diseases (Edelaman & Mandle, 2010). Promoting the best care, the culture and beliefs of the people must be looked at. The Heritage Assessment can also evaluate the nurse, showing her where her beliefs and practices are, thus promoting a good patient outcome. This in turn will help her, him to understand other cultures without bias and prejudice. Beside culture, language is another important factor. Patients may only understand their own language or have a very limited understanding of the English language. Medical terminology can be difficult for people born in America, can you only imagine when you are here learning the language and then exposed to medical jargon. Translators, language lines,

The optimal health is equally important in every culture, but the reaction towards situation requiring decision-making about health can be different in every culture. Muslim receives illness and death with patience and prayers. They consider illness as punishment for their sins. They also consider death as a part of a journey to meet God. However, they are strongly encouraged to seek medical help when required. The concept of health maintenance has a significant importance in Islam; there are some foods that are not permit like pork and alcohol. Cleanliness has a high importance. Circumcision of male infant is recommended. ("," October, 17th 2012) Where as, in Hispanic and Mexican culture health maintenance is supported mainly by using folk medicine. Mexican believe their health problems may be a result of god’s will, or they may not have the resources for conventional care and turn only to traditional healers, such as curanderos, or herbal remedies to treat their ailments. ("," ) There are other barriers for Mexicans to

Taking a shower less than 3 hours before you go outside in the winter, weather changing or drinking ginger tea are two commonly held beliefs by the superior culture in the United States about how illness can occur and be cured. All of these misconceptions are rooted our socially constructed minds and are ingrained in our practices and cultural beliefs. According to (Ritter, L., A. & Hoffman, N., A.) who stated that people from different cultures hold dissimilar beliefs about the causes and cures of illness, which impacts where one seeks medical help and care. There are many other factors that impact our health care experience, such as how we communicate about our health, and how health care decisions are made. Again, these factors could be