Cultural Heritage Assessment in health and Illness free essay sample

The United States has always been an open country with its kindness in welcoming people of other nations into it. The population of the United States is growing notably because of the migration from the rest of the world. This writer lives in Richmond, a city in the state of Virginia, a multicultural city that is heavily populated. The presence of such a population density increases the awareness of health care professionals in their ability to be receptive to other cultures. Heritage or culture is the nonphysical, inherited traits we possess and includes practice, religious beliefs, traditions, language, geographical origin, skills, and knowledge passed down through generations. Heritage assessment is an important tool in identifying and evaluating the health care needs of a person and can also be used to identify one’s behavior towards the health care system and the provider. To be professionally competent, it’s essential to know one’s own heritage prior to learning the society’s heritage. The writer is an Asian American, a native of India, coming from an extended family with 8 members. In the writer’s family, parents are the decision makers on all important matters including health. The particular society to which the writer belongs holds certain beliefs such as disease is caused by God Karma. Karma is the belief that what one did in the past can have a positive or negative impact on his or her life in the future, respective to one’s action in the past. This leads the patient into believing that his or her sickness is a result of Karma. Traditional treatments known as Homeopathy and Ayurveda are the treatment modalities people use to support, maintain, and regain health. Meditations and other prayers, hot and cold applications, medicinal water, and the use of a variety of herbs are included in this particular type of treatment. Ayurveda medicine is a preventive system that tries to comprehend a problem by looking at it as a whole. The doctors that practice this try to find the underlying cause of the illness, which may not always be found within the body. Thus it is believed that the underlying cause must be dealt with in order to permanently cure the illness. Avoiding certain kinds of foods and fasting regularly are necessary measures in preventing illness. Massaging with oil in combination with hot or cold fomentation is an important method of treatment for acute or chronic pain. Other two different modalities of treatments are Homeopathy and Acupuncture. Breaking these traditions is considered to be highly disrespectful in this culture. These methods of treatments are probably the reason why Asian Americans a healthier population in comparison with other ethnic groups in America (Edelman Mandel, 2006). The writer chose to assess Hispanic Americans as the second ethnic group. This is a rapidly growing community in America because of their increased immigration rate and population growth. The major obstacle for this community is getting familiarized with an entirely new and different language (Gracias 2001). The family which writer interviewed was from Puerto Rico and had settled in the United States more than 40 years ago. The two major concerns of this community are their family and religion while health promotion and prevention are not given much attention. They believe that sickness is a punishment of God resulting from one’s conduct and that illness can be forgone through prayers and gifts to God. When they are sick with an illness, they approach herbal practitioners for the necessary treatment and advice. Using garlic to treat hypertension and eucalyptus oil and leaves to treat respiratory problems are two examples of their herbal therapy (M, Victor, Personal communication, February 23, 2011). They are more prone to chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiovascular conditions because of the malnutrition that results from low-end jobs that provide no medical coverage which makes it harder for them to have health care follow ups (Edelman Mandel, 2006). The African Americans are the third ethnic group that the writer chose for heritage assessment. Their family is very encouraging and relatively large. The oldest woman of their family is usually the decision maker regarding the welfare and health of the family. She is the one who usually determines whether to go for treatment or not while having issues with health for her family members. During the interview of a Jamaican family who settled in the United States about 20 years ago, the writer understood that there is a huge connection between religion and treatment in their culture. The interviewed family had four members including that parents who are in their early forties and are health care professionals. They have two kids aged 8 and 12, who are going to school. They live close to their maternal grandparents which allows them to have a safe babysitting option for their children. The grandparents, who take care of the kids most of the time, believe that diseases in the family are due to the failure of the supernatural power. The grandmother, Miranda, aged 74 has diabetes and high cholesterol but follows only a treatment of a good diet and heartfelt prayers because she believes that it’s her fate to have these health problems. They practice Christianity, believe firmly in God, and incorporate prayers along with traditional preventive measures to protect themselves from sickness. She also thinks that the techniques of spiritual healers along with her prayers will be a remedy for her illness. She takes massage therapy combined with hot or cold fomentation, wears amulets, and uses herbs, roots, and oils as a part of her treatment. Certain people in her community still have a variety of superstitions like placing a knife below the bed of a woman giving birth helps cutting down the labor pain ( B. Lewis,personal communication,February 22,2011) The writer was able to identify quite a few similarities among the three ethnic groups such as looking towards God and seeking the help of herbal treatments to remedy their illness instead of going to the doctor. Hot and cold applications are also used by these three cultural groups. Ayurveda and Homeopathy are special treatments for Indian Americans while spiritualists and faith healers have a great influence on the African Americans and Hispanic Americans take the advice from herbal practitioners. The writer identified that personal beliefs and traditional practices have great influences on health promotion and prevention in all these three heritages. The writer’s own family believes that there should be better preventive measures available to promote health and prevent illness. Also, if a situation that requires urgent medical help arises, it needs to be addressed immediately and referred to hospitals since traditional and home remedies may cause irreversible damages in these situations. Health profession is a special vocation that takes care of human lives. Individuals, families, communities, and the nation itself are responsible for the promotion of health and prevention of illness. Being respectful and sensitive toward people from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds is essential to delivering quality care. A culturally competent and knowledgeable nurse is an asset for the health care facility and the community. When a patient is cared in a more culturally competent way, the patient feels more comfortable and finds the interest to take an active role in his or her care. This phenomenon can be seen in the popularity of patients finding and getting treatment from a primary physician of their own ethnic group. This is probably because these patients think that such a doctor will be able to understand them better and also because they are able to communicate in the same language and understand the patients in a better way. In short, heritage and culture plays a key role in making health decisions. To conclude, nursing has become one of the most challenging professions, requiring constant changes due to the evolving health care development with its increasingly diverse population. Cultural care should be administered comprehensively and should include the evaluation of the patient’s beliefs, cultural needs, and unique and different health care practices. A culturally sensitive and appropriate health care provider is essential to improve the quality of care and patients’ outcome.