Running Head: THE VALUE OF HEALTH ACROSS CULTURES
Evaluating the Value of Health and Cultural Heritage across Cultures
Claire E. Blystra
Grand Canyon University
Evaluating the Value of Health and Cultural Heritage across Cultures
Culture and values are standards that influence and shape human behaviors, decision making processes, personal relationships, and status of health and happiness. The United States has become a symbol of a multicultural society representing many different ethnicities and minority groups. As our culture continues to grow rapidly so is the necessity to increase awareness, understanding, and tolerance of these diverse groups. As health care providers we must understand the basic needs of our patients,
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Islam promotes heath and wellness with meditation, proper diet, regular activity and cleanliness (bathing, fragrance, attention to hair and nails). Lastly, their culture strictly dictates the foods they eat as well as what is considered toxic or harmful to their health.
The ways of preventing disease or “health protection” has made an impact on health care. Growing up with access to health insurance, routine doctors visits, vaccinations, and educational programs to promote heath and wellness such as the D.A.R.E program was normal practice. One of the biggest obstacles for the Hispanic family was not having access to affordable health care. Health care insurance is not affordable for many poor Americans, whose priorities are the basic needs of health including food, clothing, and shelter rather than health care(Edelman, 2010). They admit to not having good preventative health care like routine physicals, medication compliance, attending follow-up appointments, and regular dental hygiene. Being hospitalized is often a last resort because of the finical stress is can cause because of lack of health insurance. In contrast to the Hispanic American family, the Saudi family viewed out of pocket expenses a low priority when considering health protection. This patient needed to have heart surgery and with support from immediate and extended family members in the United States, some practicing as physicians, this was the best option. Good health is often a sign
In the poem Heritage by Linda Hogan, Hogan uses the tone of the speaker to demonstrate the shame and hatred she has toward her family, but also the desire for her family’s original heritage. The speaker describes each family member and how they represent their heritage. When describing each member, the speaker’s tone changes based on how she feels about them. The reader can identify the tone by Hogan’s word choices and the positive and negative outlooks on each member of the family.
Important health decisions are made by the entire family. It is not uncommon for three generations to live under one roof and the oldest father is in charge. The people of Vietnamese culture tend to hide their true feelings or fears as it is considered rude to speak up or offer frank honesty (Kemp,
Every individual has a cultural heritage. Each culture views the world differently. Culture is an inherited characteristic and includes knowledge, beliefs, customs, skills, likes and dislikes. The fundamental role of cultural heritage is uniting, respecting the diversities and brings people together to face the future by informing, perceiving and give importance to the understanding of the past (need a reference) Heritage assessment tool was introduced for collecting information about different cultures, nationalities and build cultural competencies among health care professionals. It is used to investigate
Culture and heritage are the properties that make up a way of life for a specific population. As referenced by South African History Online (n.d.), “Culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.” Heritage is formed from the practices and traditions that are learned from generations
The world is filled with many cultures and it is important for healthcare professionals to understand most of them, therefore understand their patient. The heritage assessment includes the many factors that may influence a patient’s medical decision such as their religious beliefs and cultural background (Spector, 2009). The heritage assessment is very useful in understanding a patient’s preferred health approach to maintain, protect and restore it. Knowing cultural beliefs and values are very significant because in many cases, they are important to the patient and the beliefs and values influence their health choices. By
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
“Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health,” (The WHO,2005). Health promotion is the process of enabling people to have control over and improve their health. It examines the importance of including ethnic and cultural factors to be incorporated in health. The goal of universal education cannot be achieved while the health needs of all remain unmet. Health protection explains how people maintain their health on a daily basis.
The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002). This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of
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,
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.
The care needs of patients continue to change, as the United States population becomes more diverse. Nurses will be required to be more knowledgeable and respectful of the differences in cultural and religious beliefs as this diversity continues. The American Nurses Association (ANA) states, “knowledge of cultural diversity is vital at all levels of nursing practice…nurses need to understand: how cultural group groups define health and illness; what cultural groups do to maintain wellness; what cultural groups believe to be the causes of illness; and how healers cure and care
In order to understand heritage and apply the Heritage Assessment Tool, one most know. What is heritage? According to the UMASS Amherst Center for Heritage & Society “Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture. Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings, and behaviors that we draw from them” (Heritage & Society n.d). Leaving one’s culture, belief, and country to a better tomorrow, could be exiting, adventurous but at the same time freighting. Therefore maintaining one’s heritage is the motor that keep this country different from all the other countries in the world. The diversity of cultures and the traditions passed from generation to generation is what differentiates one another. Distinguishing health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration between different heritages. The Heritage Assessment Tool helps health care giver the knowledge to appreciate the different heritages and an understanding how it influence each individual’s life.
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
The United States (US) is a multicultural society. People from all over the world reside in the US. There are many customs, religion, values, beliefs, and so forth, in the US. To be in the healthcare profession, it is vital and necessary to be culturally aware and competent to provide culturally appropriate, holistic care. One of the ways to learn about a person’s heritage is by using the Heritage Assessment (HA). The HA tool has 29 questions and is a reliable method used to collect data on the patients’ traditional heritage. This paper will discuss the usefulness of the Heritage Assessment (HA) tool, this student’s summary of personal learning, this student’s cultural heritage common health traditions, in addition to
Showing support and respect for cultural health beliefs creates a better interpersonal relationship between patient and physician. When implementing a wellness plan for the patient to follow the physician should take into consideration the beliefs of the patient. Health care providers should seek and obtain knowledge of their patient’s diverse cultures. Obtaining the knowledge of other cultures can be an valuable skill.