Section 1: Cultural Differences In Cancer Care

“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

leading cause of cancer related mortality within the community for both men and women was

Adapting to different cultural beliefs and practices requires flexibility and a respect for others view points. Cultural competence means to really listen to the patient, to find out and learn about the patient's beliefs of health and illness. To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. However, becoming culturally competent is a much more daunting task. Culture (and ethnicity) often influences a patient’s perceptions of health and illness. Therefore, if healthcare providers appear insensitive to cultural diversity, their actions may negatively affect the quality of the healthcare that they provide.

because of dementia etc.) so as carers we must be aware of medications they are on and look for possible side effects that could be effecting them.

Asian Americans face health disparities in cancer, chronic diseases, hypertension, and diabetes, mental health, and among the elderly (Sy, n.d.). I wanted to focus on what one of the most leading cause of Asian Americans or Pacific Islander is Cancer. Asian Americans generally have lower cancer rates than the non-Hispanics white population. However, disparities still exist in the certain type of cancer. According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Asians are 40 percent less likely to have prostate cancer as white men, but they are twice as likely to have stomach cancer. Although Asians women are 30 percent less likely to have breast cancer than white women, they are twice as likely to have stomach cancer. OHM also conclude that Asian men and women have 2.1 and 2.3 times the incidence of liver and IBD cancer as the non-Hispanic white population. Asian are twice as likely to die from stomach cancer as compared to the non-Hispanic white population, and Asian women are 2.4 times as likely to die from the same disease (Office of Minority Health,

Declining cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have continued through the first decade of the twenty-first century. However, Black Americans continue to have the higher cancer mortality rates and shorter survival times. This review discusses and compares only breast and prostate cancer mortality rates and mortality trends for Blacks and Whites. The complex relationship between socioeconomic status and race and its contribution to racial cancer disparities is discussed.

African American women are diagnosed with breast cancer at a rate of one-in-ten. Caucasian women see a rate of 1-in-8 however, 1-in-31 African American women are found die from their illness where 1-in-37 Caucasian die from breast cancer (ASPCS, 2014). These numbers are

African American women are dying at a much higher rate in preventable health issues like HIV/AIDS, diabetes and heart disease. In February 2005, the Black AIDS Institute found that black women accounted for 72 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases in women in Los Angeles alone. Black women are also 25 times higher to get HIV/AIDS which is mostly due to inadequate health screenings.

As a health care professional, we are faced with caring for patients of different cultural and ethnic background. Researching and learning about the patient’s culture values, beliefs and practices is essential and remarks the ability to provide quality health care for the patient. “Organizations and individuals who understand their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices are in a better position to be coparticipants with their clients in providing culturally acceptable care” (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008, p. 2). After completing the cultural competence checklist, I was able to identify some of my responses to the patient cultural values and belief practices. I will describe a summary of my assessment results, analyze

In my practice as a social worker in a long term care setting, I have become aware these are the resident who lack to ability to care for themselves due to physical limitations as opposed to their mental limitations. I have also noticed this is the population which has the most difficulty adjusting to living in a nursing home. This seems to be the population which most often displays symptoms of depression and sadness regarding their situation of living in a nursing home, and often times will state they want to discharge home even though they and their families are unable to provide needed care.

On the other hand, although the healthcare provider is able to speak their patient's language, providers often fail to consider the patient's education level and may at times use medical jargons that the patient may not understand, thus resulting in a failure to communicate with their patient. Healthcare provider may lack the skills and knowledge in understanding their patient's culture other than their own. This often results in the medical provider "pushing" their beliefs onto their patient and if the desired results are not realized, this results in mistrust of the healthcare provider and the healthcare system. To increase cultural competence among healthcare workers and increase the amount of minority's access to healthcare, medical schools and medical facilities are incorporating "Clinical Cultural Competence Interventions." The goal of this program is to provide "educational and training interventions to equip healthcare providers with the knowledge, tools, and skills to better understand and manage socio-cultural issues in the clinical encounter," (Betancourt, Green, Carrillo, and Ananeh-Firempong, 2003, p. 298). Again, although the guidebook is an excellent tool, to achieve the desired health outcomes, it is up to the provider or healthcare team to incorporate these evidence based practices into their

Heart disease, regular hypertension and renal disease are all results from high blood pressure issues in African American men and the rates showed an increase among both African American men and women were more than double those of white men throughout the period. Consequently, African American men are more susceptible to prostate cancer more than other races. Their risk for strokes is greater than 60 percent than white men (Xanthos, Treadwell & Holden,

Molly Redden explains how black women are prone to die of having breast cancer than white women. According to the author, Redden mentions significantly high risk factors contributing towards black women. However, this deadly disease plays a role seriously and actually it's becoming an issue that race amongst black women are facing breast cancer, such as "morbid obesity," "exposure to the chemical environment," and "not able to receive for proper medical care." Discussing why this death rate toll is expected to increase a colossal amount, Redden reveals that cancer research from the American Cancer Society, nevertheless, said to be that black women are likely to be in danger as disconsolate for that reason they will also hit harder than other

Cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with approximately 14 million new cases in 2012.2 The amount of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next 2 decades. Cancer which causes nearly 1 in 6 deaths, is the second leading cause of death globally, and was responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2015. Approximately 70% of deaths from cancer occur in low- and middle-income countries. In 2012 about 14.1 million new cases of cancer occurred globally (not including skin cancer other than melanoma).3 The most common types of cancer in males are lung cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and stomach cancer.