Heritage Assessment: Culture And Health Traditions

“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

Cultural competency aids in closing the “disparities gap” in health care. ("OMH," 2012, para. 2) In doing so, health professionals and their clients are better able to discuss concerns without cultural differences getting in the way of effective communication and problem solving. Being respectful of and sensitive to the client’s health beliefs, culture, values, and diverse needs can bring positive outcomes within treatment and patient care. After all, is it not the main job of the health care provider to ensure patient trust? Open forms of communication when dealing with client issues can only be provided if the patient is comfortable with his provider and believes his

The Heritage Assessment Tool (HAT) is a set of questions used to examine an individual’s ethnic, cultural and religious heritage. HAT can be used to understand an individual’s health traditions. The answers to the questionnaire can be used to evaluate how an individual views of health maintenance, health protection and health restoration. The author will review three different individuals culture heritage using the HAT. The cultures that are being compared for differences in health traditions are Asian Indians, Vietnamese and Ethiopian. The review of HAT results will give insight to compare the differences of health traditions between these different cultured families.

All three cultures are generally present orientated, with emphasis placed on events that are occurring now rather than what will happen in the future (Edelman & Mandle, 2009; Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010; Gough et al., 2009). This makes health restoration difficult in

Cultural competence can be defined as using the ability of one’s awareness, attitude, knowledge and skill to effectively interact with a patient’s many cultural differences. Madeline Leininger, a pioneer on transcultural nursing describes it this way; “a formal area of study and practice focused on comparative human-care differences and similarities of the beliefs, values and patterned lifeways of cultures to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and beneficial health care to people” (Barker, 2009, p. 498). The importance of cultural diversity in healthcare allows for the delivery of appropriate cultural autonomy. Showing respect for others will lead to trust between nurse and

Traditionally, the African American diet consisted of leafy green vegetables, fish, poultry, and beans. However, the cooking methods, such as deep frying, the heavy use of gravy, pork fat, and butter add a large amount fat and cholesterol to an otherwise heart-healthy diet. “Soul food” with its fried chicken, fried pork chops, and corn bread have become the traditional comfort food, and there is a large significant placed in the African-American culture on community and family gatherings centered around food. Historically, African-Americans lived a highly active lifestyle that compensated for a higher than average fat content in their diet. As modern trends swing toward a more sedentary lifestyle, the direct result is heart disease rising to be the leading cause of death among African-Americans (Cowling, 2006, p8).

In the United States today cultural diversity is growing more prevalent every day. The report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM: Unequal treatment, 2002) presented information that racial and ethnic minorities of all ages receive lower quality health care compared to their non-minority counterparts. Every effort should be made to stop the disparities surrounding cultural differences while attempting to understand the cultural health behaviors, increase cultural

We reflecting the author’s own culture, she like many people in the United States are a blend of many different cultures and ethnicity. By not having one single ethnic culture her family views health traditions based on their religion of Christian Scientist. Being raised in this religion molded views of health promotion, prevention and treatment that influence her health behaviors today. There is a difference of opinion between Christian Science and traditional medical views. “Christian Scientist interpret disease from a spiritual view where medicine interprets disease from a material point of view” (Stoddard, 2010). As a child our family was raised with the belief that good nutrition, physical activity, and the role of positive thinking and mind over matter, would provide health and help us remain strong and healthy. Not having over the counter medications or turning to traditional medicine for simple medical issues was chosen as our families way of viewing illness. Growing up with the view of health and illness as spiritual using techniques such as meditation, prayer and positive thinking, has stayed as a health tradition among our families beliefs and practices to this day. Today modern medicine is looking at the mind as a valuable tool to prepare persons and bodys for wellness and rehabilitation. An example of this would be biofeedback. This is a technique where people are

Fried chicken, mash potatoes and collard greens mixed with fatback meat was my family’s favorite Sunday meal. Soul food, as it has been called, is valued by many African American families. Given the worldwide obesity epidemic that appears to be affecting most ethnic groups, there is an appreciation that the causes of obesity among African American families and others must lie in the fundamental aspects of the food supply (Capers, C et al. 2011). In my opinion, African Americans in the United Sates are more likely to be obese because there is a large number of low-income families’ and many are uninsured. According to the Office of Minority Health, African American women have the highest rates of being obese compared to other groups in

Therefore, it directly influences the delivery of health care since a lack of culturally competent care leads to poor patient outcomes as well as reduced patient compliance and health disparities no matter the quality of services and systems availed. Additionally, to enhance the quality of care and patient satisfaction, culturally-competent health care leads to staff retention. Lack of culturally-sensitive health care affects cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence behaviors thereby watering the concepts of suffering, illness, health, and care, which mean different things to different people regarding their religious beliefs. Therefore, the knowledge of cultural customs provides a health care provider with wisdom to provide better care and thus curtail misunderstandings among patients and their

Campinha-Bacote emphasized that a cultural assessment is necessary for every patient, because every patient has values, beliefs and practices that must be considered when rendering healthcare services. Therefore, cultural assessments should not be limited to specific ethnic groups, but rather conducted with each patient. In the interest of our professional and personal growth, becoming culturally competent is a journey that begins with self-assessment and continues with knowledge acquisition and integration of best practices that promote positive patient outcomes. . It is important to reflect on our own culture, values and beliefs so that we can become more aware of other cultures. This self-awareness involves both positive and negative views of various cultures, values and beliefs.

In this paper, three families were interviewed on several characteristics of their culture, customs and beliefs toward health which includes African, African American and Jamaican.

India is country known all over the world for its culture and tradition. It is a land with various cultures and traditions which are as vast as the subcontinent upon which they are located. This essay will focus on the Indian culture and highlight the different beliefs that Indians have on life processes. The essay will show the different methods Indians use to stay healthy and how the Indian culture can determine how healthcare services are provided to the people.

Abstract: The current healthcare system across globe is heading in a way that, to maintain the health and vitality of human beings they have to address forces in both the natural and spiritual world. The traditional health care system and beliefs are grounded in cultural and religious practices of local communities. Historical circumstances, geography and demographics shape and inform the delivery of traditional healthcare systems. Modern healthcare systems are the result of a long evolution through trial and error and exchange of such information between diverse communities and regions. This process of exchange and gathering of information is still continued, today traditional medical practices are compelled to accommodate to the modern health care policies. The aim of this paper is to address on development of health care system to integrate the best of Indian traditional health care methods to meet the primary health care needs of contemporary society.

India is located in continent Asia. It is Federal republic government. Its official language is Hindi and there are 14 other languages e.g. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu and Punjabi. The major religion that is follow by majority of people is Hinduism. In India people speaks different languages, dress differently, follow different religions, eat different food but they all have the same nature. Whether it is a happy occasion or a moment of sadness people participate in it with feeling of happiness or pain. A festival or a celebration is never constrained to a family or home. They whole community or neighborhood is involved in bringing a