Culturally Competent Practices in Mental Health Care - Essay Example

"Culturally Competent Practices in Mental Health Care" is an engrossing example of a paper on care.
To deliver excellent healthcare services in a cross-cultural setup, nurses need cultural competence which entails cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. This evidence-based practice paper seeks to study culturally competent practices in mental health care. The case study in this essay is a Christian divorced African-American female mental health patient, Sudanese.  

Patient assessment

She’s 31 and lives with her 12-year old son. She complains of constant headaches, mood swings, and stress, and has been drinking heavily for the last year to forget her stress.

In the past generations, African Americans haven’t had a good experience in healthcare. She may be suspicious of clinicians and reluctant to share personal issues, and this is what I will assess first.  Also, I will assess if she’s experiencing stigma associated with divorce as in the case in the African culture. Another area of assessment will be her financial position and social status. She could be struggling to pay her bills and being lonely most of the time. I will ascertain if she’s harboring pain and hatred to her former husband and how the conflict can be resolved. Finally, I would seek to know the status of her dependency on alcohol and the behavioral changes needed to treat the addiction. ("Clinicians’ competence in assessing cultural mistrust among African American psychiatric patients - Arthur L. Whaley, 2011," 2010).

Her Diagnosis

After interacting with her in the psychiatric unit, it’s apparent that she lacked emotional support after her divorce and she hates her former husband. As a result, many areas in her life have been adversely affected. For instance, her productivity and income were lowered and her health compromised. Besides, she has lost hope in life, she is a threat to her life, and drinks carelessly. Moreover, she experiences sleeplessness but she manages it by drinking. If not treated, she is at risk of acute migraine, dementia, depression, and mood disorders, and even death. Besides, she needs treatment for her addiction. Overall, what she needs is a total attitude and behavioral change as well as medicine. ("Cultural mistrust of white mental health clinicians among African Americans with severe mental illness," 2010).

Planning

In preparation to offer service to this client, I would make adequate preparation. I will begin by collecting data on the African-American health preferences, language, and perceptions. Then, I will conduct a self-cultural assessment and note the disparities. From the data, I will develop a culturally competent management program and checklist to safeguard her emotional safety. Finally, if applicable, I would lay a program on how to involve her family members in her treatment. "Becoming a culturally competent health care organization | AHA," n.d.).

Implementation

To counteract any antipsychiatry propaganda she may have come across, I will display my sympathy for her condition and great respect for her culture. Also, I will be a keen listener and handle her with dignity. Having secured rapport, I will lead and give her enough time to express herself comprehensively. Step by step, I will guide her on the cause and remedy of her challenges, remedial behavioral changes, and how to make the changes possible. Having changed her attitude, I will prescribe medicine for her migraine and for alcohol withdrawal symptoms. For instance, for her lack of emotional support and hatred, I will give her a schedule to regularly visit the psychiatric unit. Also, for her perception that alcohol solves pain and stress, I will educate her on the detrimental health consequences of alcoholism. ("Issues in the psychiatric treatment of African Americans," 1999). Finally, I would give her hope that the recommended changes would improve health, reduce pain, increase productivity, income, and promote well-being.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the recommended measures

To measure how antipsychiatry views have been overcome and rapport building is essential in mental health. I will observe how and count the leading questions she answers without reservations and the extent she reveals her family information. On behavioral change, I will follow up and count the number of days she goes without alcohol and the number of recommended psychiatric visits she makes. Also, it will of interest to measure the consistency in taking prescribed drugs by counting the adherence days. Besides, I will seek her report on the state of pain, attitude, and productivity, and the increase in income. If most of the parameters are showing improvements, then I would conclude that she’s on her way to restoration.

Conclusion

Diversity is a reality and building culturally competent healthcare institutions is paramount. Every healthcare facility needs to put in place a Cultural Competency Committee (CCC). It should be constituted such that it influences policy, administration, the community, and service delivery. Both the mission and objectives of all facilities need to have cultural competence an integral part of their activities. ("Chapter 27. Cultural competence in a multicultural world | Section 7. Building culturally competent organizations | Main section | Community toolbox," n.d.).