Personal Essay On Autoethnography Of Culture And Diversity

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers on the culturally competent strategies that ameliorate health disparities in this country. Over the years health issues have increase rapidly. There are different ethnic backgrounds shows that their health plays a big role culturally and also diversity.

Knowledge of the individual’s culture provides insight into the complex beliefs and value system of various ethnic groups that make up the United States today. The heritage assessment tool provided an opportunity to view and compare cultures for encouraging incorporation of individual beliefs into a plan for health promotion.

Cultural diversity in the medical field is, at times, greatly hindered because of religious beliefs, language barriers, and the hierarchies of diverse cultures and these have the propensity to affect the continuity of care for the patients. “Every person has different aspects that constitute their identities, according to how they see themselves….This means that seeing an individual in terms of

One day seven years ago, Kimberly Macalaster-Klapprodt, woke up to find that the upper left part of her face was numb. “I thought, ‘This is weird’ and went on with my day. But when she developed dizziness and a crippling headache the next day, she stopped joking and went to an urgent care facility. That’s when the saga of Macalaster-Klapprodt’s multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis began. It was exhausting experience that many patients who are eventually diagnosed with MS can relate to. Although there's no cure for Multiple Sclerosis, the sooner a patient receives an MS diagnosis, the sooner he or she can be treated with medications that help manage the disease, especially in the initial stages of Multiple Sclerosis

Acculturation is the extent to which an individual from one non-dominant group adopts parts of the dominant group’s culture (Roncancio, 2011). A research study was performed to understand the link between cultural and traditional health beliefs and its effect on health care decision making using Dr. Nancy Krieger’s ecosocial framework. Dr. Krieger, professor of social epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health, designed the framework to examine closely social inequalities in health and disease distribution within a population (Krieger, 2014).

The United States is a country that is often referred to as a melting pot because it has a mixture of people of all different ages, religions, and cultures. With such a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, it seems essential that cultural awareness and sensitivity is incorporated

A group’s shared language, race, culture, ancestral experiences, way of dressing, work ethic, social values, etc. are part of what Hays and Erford (2014) describe as ethnicity. If I were to describe a few of my ethnic affiliations, I would describe myself as a white, spiritual, Christian female, that speaks English, and lives a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. Although my great- grandparents came to the United States from Ireland and England, I am not aware of many lingering nationality traits that my family practices. Some things we do still have in common with my grandparents and great-grandparents are a strong work ethic, celebrating major Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter, and love of

A cross-cultural perspective can enrich our understanding of classic and current research in the most important topics in the science of social behavior, including social cognition, social influence, and social relations The basic concept of any life form is diversity. Human beings are no exception to this general principle. Diversity to me is the ability for differences to coexist together, with some type of mutual understanding or acceptance present. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing their individual differences. A person’s or groups individual difference can vary from the magnitudes dealing with race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. Acceptance of different viewpoints is the key to overcoming many prejudices towards diverse groups of people.

The word "diversity" seems to mean something different to many people, but is typically meant as a "variety" or a "mixture" (differences in practices, appearances, ideals). The word diversity has been used to highlight the fact that there are significant personal, dispositional, and cultural differences between many of the individuals in this society. In many cases (but not all) the view has been that society should learn to respect these differences as opposed to try to assimilate them (Nicholson & Seidman, 1995). Cases where these differences should not receive respect and tolerance occur as in the case of incest, child abuse, cannibalism, or others similar practices that pray on the rights of other individuals. In the context of healthcare and counseling, the notion of diversity reflects the identification of changing demographics and economics of a developing multicultural environment (Ratts, 2009). This recognition of diversity has challenged healthcare organizations and counseling providers to consider cultural diversity as a priority. However, providers should recognize that addressing diversity goes far beyond recognizing and knowing the values and beliefs of different ethnic groups, but also should address a number of other constructs such as gender issues, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, physical size, age, disability issues, socio-economic status, and many other similar constructs.

Life is a process in which our circumstances today may hugely determine how we live our lives in the future. Many psychologists have explained human behavior while relating it to the environment the people in question grew up in, and the experiences they underwent during their growing up. It is a fact that our past experiences determine how we perceive things in the present. Though many people tend to deny it, each one of us in one way or another have exhibited the traits that we are so much against at one point in our lives. Some of these negative traits are racism, ageism, xenophobia, homophobia and classism. At one point of our lives, we all exhibit such behaviors. Well I am not an exception, although I must admit that most of the instances when I exhibit such traits, I don’t do it intentionally; it just happens as if it’s something intrinsic. In my life, I have also experienced instances where I have been discriminated on the basis of various aspects I possess.

Although ethnicity does relate to race, it is classified in a way that associates similar customs and traits of people. Broadly speaking, it’s a commonality of social and cultural heritage passed from generation to generation. Ethnicity gives the individual a sense of identity. Race, in contrast, is related to biological similarities; the specific and distinguishing bone structure, blood type and physical features that a particular race commonly shares. There may be underlying similarities due to the cultural and biological comparables supporting and highlighting the connection (Dowd, S., Giger, J., & Davidhizar, R., 1998). Giger & Davidhizar’s model addresses six observable but variable factors that have an effect on health care regardless of culture of the individual. These factors or phenomena as they are called; identify the existence of diversity between and within cultural groups (Tortumluoglu, 2006). This model proposes that every individual is culturally unique. The six phenomena are communication; space; social organization; time; environmental control; and biological variations.

Supposedly, focusing on the behavior and effect of diversity, of those holding an cultural and ethnic prejudices the origins of ethnocentrism can be explained. It has been discovered that diversity fosters distrust towards the out-group and formation of solidarity within the in-group. Also, negative behaviors originate from the perspective that a

Cultural Diversity can have a multidimensional context of many aspects of the life of an individual which includes age, gender, faith, sexual orientation, profession, tastes, socioeconomic status, disability, ethnicity, and race (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), 2011).

The United States, as well as the healthcare profession, is becoming increasingly diverse. The Purnell Model for Cultural Competence instructs healthcare professionals to first assess their own beliefs and bias. Our bias can affect our communication with patients from diverse backgrounds as well as interactions with our colleagues (Denisco and Barker, 2016). To be culturally competent, healthcare providers must understand that there are primary and secondary characteristics of culture that determine how closely an individual identifies with their culture (Purnell, 2005). Primary characteristics of culture are those that can’t be changed, such as age and gender; but secondary characteristics can be fluid. Examples of secondary characteristics are educational background or time away from the country of origin (Purnell 2005). For example, an immigrant who has lived in New York City for 10 years may have different beliefs than an individual who has recently come to the United States. We must understand the culture from which that patient came and then have dialogue with them to determine what extent they relate with their

No two people are the same. Race, ethnicity, gender, and age are all factors that make individuals different and unique. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing my values, beliefs and traditions, how I identify myself, and my attitude on diversity.