Effect on Class Writer - Essay Example

? How This Has Affected Me of How Has This Affected You? During the I have learned a lot of new things which have had a significant influence on my life and my professional goals. Specifically the readings of Anne Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” and Barbara Myerhoff's “Number of Our Days” have had a great impact on my thoughts and future plans. Through the anthropology course and the aforementioned readings, I was motivated to change my professional goals. Moreover I was caused to accurately define my personal and professional roles in future practice. In this essay, I give a reflection of the course in light of the manner in which it has affected me. My reflection is based on a review and reference to the information within the readings of the course. In addition, I provide the justifications for the change of my professional roles and future plans based on the knowledge that I acquired during the course. Furthermore, I will give a detailed discussion on how the cause caused me to specifically decide to work with Child Protective Services. Anne Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” presents a narration of the struggles that a refugee family from Hmong culture in Laos. The book specifically describes how two different cultures collide. The scenario that is presented by the writer is within California’s health care system. In the book, the writer reveals the interaction between a Hmong child with her Doctors in America and demonstrates the social cultural problems and struggles in the provision of health care. Lia Lee is a favorite child and youngest of the Hmong family. The doctors find out that Lia is having a severe form of epilepsy. The author describes how cultural differences between the family and the American doctors acts to obstruct Lia’s treatment. It is the events within this book which motivated me to have a desire for playing a role in ensuring that children received the best care which prioritized their interests regardless of the differences in beliefs and cultural affiliations. This decision is based on my belief that both the family and health care providers must collaborate to ensure that children received proper care. This means that healthcare providers require understanding the culture of their patients and ensuring that it does not obstruct their moral and ethical roles of patient centered care. Barbara Myerhoff's “Number of Our Days” presents the work of a renowned anthropologist. Myerhoff was given a grant to investigate or study the process of human aging. As a result Myerhoff chose to base her study on elderly Jewish community from Venice in California. It is notable that the author and anthropologist decided that he would study and report on the indigenous community rather than on an exotic society. When reading Myerhoff’s story, I was changed by the ways in which she presents the lives and rituals of these Jewish and unique old people. More significant is the cultural value which enabled the old people to face and go through numerous problems and challenges of living. Among the problems that the author demonstrates that these old people had to face include poverty, loneliness, neglect, physical danger, poor and inadequate housing and poor health. Myerhoff’s story inspired me to play a role in helping people to overcome the problems that they face in their social environments and during care. The author depicts the agonies of aging in a manner which makes a reader to sympathize and have a desire to do something in alleviating human suffering. Through this book I appreciated the human spirit as indomitable. Moreover I was appreciative of the importance of cultural rituals in living and overcoming problems as presented by the author in wise yet funny approach. The above brief description of the two most influential readings on my life is a background to the illustration of how the anthropology cause affected me. At this point I need to clarify that it is Myerhoff's story which motivated me to pursue a career in providing services to those with problems. Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” on the other hand specifically influenced me to make a decision of working with Child Protective Services as my professional contribution towards the well being of the young people. Even though these two readings present information on two divergent generations, it is important to consider that the needs of the elderly for care are in many ways similar to those of children. The struggles of the Hmong family and Lia’s sufferings with epilepsy were more influential on my life and future career ambitions. In the following paragraphs, I will reflect upon and illustrate the specific events within these course readings which defined my decision for my professional roles and work within Child Protective Services. The seventh chapter of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” specifically illustrates communication problems between health care providers and the Hmong family about Lia’s medical dosages. This causes misunderstanding and mistrust which makes Lia’s parents to refuse to give her some medications. It is in this sense that I realized the importance of Child Protective Services in protecting the interests and well being of the child. Lack of cooperation of Lia’s parents to her treatment leads to the worsening of her condition (Fadiman, 1998). This illustration shows that the interests of the child for improvement of her health condition were not given due consideration and priority by Lia’s parents. Neil Ernst is quoted on page 79 saying that “I felt it was important for Hmong to understand that there were certain elements of medicine that we understood better than they did and there were certain rules they had to follow with their children’s lives” (Fadiman, 1998, p. 79). This statement changed the manner in which a viewed the role of parents in the care of their children. I now belief that parents must understand that health care professionals are trained and skilled to provide proper therapy. Therefore the knowledge and cultural understanding of parents about medicine must not obstruct the role of health care professionals in treatment of children. Parents who obstruct the treatment of their children should therefore be prevented by Child Protective Services from their parental role so that the condition of the child does not worsen. Anne Fadiman’s book reflects how Neil Ernst questions himself constantly because he wonders if Lia’s health was compromised by his adherence to uncompromising standards. Ernst had to make choices between complying with the needs of the parents and Lia’s optimal care. These choices act to demonstrate that it is important to prioritize the needs of patients in care. Therefore, Fadiman’s book disclosed that health care providers are not obliged to comply with the demands of the parents if they hinder optimal care to their child. Moreover, Child Protective Services play an important role in ensuring that parents who hinder the achievement of optimal care to children are relieved of their obligations of deciding for the child’s well being. The sufferings that Lia had to go through because her parents refused to comply to the health care provider’s prescription motivated me for a professional role of protecting the needs of children for their well being. Failure of Lia’s parents to comply with her therapy is seen by Ernst as child endangerment. It is through a reflection on this book that I decided to play a role in preventing child endangerment which is one of the forms of child abuse. Through the lessons in this course I was able to appreciate the principles of beneficence vs. autonomy in children vs. adults. The author demonstrates that “as long as doctors and parents continue to negotiate, even if they disagree, the conflict is confined to differences in belief systems” (Fadiman, 1998, p. 84). The reading of the seventh chapter of “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, made me realize that I wanted to contribute into protecting the rights of children from abusive belief systems. It is however notable that Ernst did not intend to prosecute the parents of Lia (Fadiman, 1998). As a result of this, the parents were not subject to any form of legal action from endangering the life of their daughter. It is through this reading that I decided to be part of regulation of the role of parents and health care providers’ role in optimized care. More significantly is the fact that Lia was placed temporarily in a foster home. Nevertheless, the Mennonite sisters who run the foster home mistreated her by strapping her into the chair every time they thought that she had become too active. This reading specifically influenced me to be an exemplary professional who protected the rights of children and their well being. Moreover, I became motivated to ensure that child care services are received positively by the society. Ernst says that “I wanted the word to get out in the community that if they deviated from that, it was not acceptable behavior” (Fadiman, 1998, p. 79). Even though the attitude that Ernst depicts in this statement is negative, the role of the community in ensuring the wellbeing of a child is appreciated. It is important that the community knows what is acceptable so that they can judge cases of child abuse. This will help members of the community to report any form of child abuse to Child Protective Services. It is in this regard that I desired to work with the community in ensuring that the well being of children was monitored so that abuse is dealt with by the legal framework. Through the readings of the course I became more interested of the well being of children and hence the desire to play significant roles n defending their rights. I decided that I would be able to achieve this through professional practice as a team member within Child Protective Services. I would like to demonstrate further the significance of Barbara Myerhoff's “Number of Our Days” in my professional ambitions and roles. The personal involvement that Myerhoff demonstrates in the lives of the elderly individuals within the Jewish community is very moving (Myerhoff, 1978). It is through reading the author’s narrative that I appreciated the complexities, cultural uniqueness and social needs of human beings which require professionals to understand so that they would provide services that are meant to uphold individual well being. The social needs of the elderly made me to compare them with those of young people. This is because during the later stages of life, individuals require to be appreciated and their needs catered for. Additionally, I was able to realize how important social and physical health was to all individuals. I achieved this understanding through the cultural rituals that the elderly within the Jewish community had to perform in order to be secure and have the ability of facing the problems or challenges that they faced. It is therefore through Myerhoff's narration that I was moved into a desire of protecting the needs of human being and upholding their social well being. As a result I made a decision to express this through my ambition and roles as a worker within Child Protective Services. In the light of the above reflections and illustrations, I conclude by pointing out that the anthropology course has played a significant role in my life. This is because the lessons that I learned and the information which I acquired helped me to define my future professional life. The roles that I have to play in order to fulfill the desires that were motivated by the course will be that of a Child Protective Services professional. The readings of Anne Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” and Barbara Myerhoff's “Number of Our Days” specifically influenced me into the decisions that I made. In order to achieve these goals I endeavor to acquire the relevant knowledge and develop the required skills that will help me to overcome challenges and meet these goals. The knowledge that I will acquire include for the attainment of my goals include the constitutional rights of children, ethical conduct and an understanding of the needs of children. Moreover I will be seeking to understand the cultural factors which affect the achievement of children’s needs. More specifically, I will endeavor to develop the skills of critical thinking and evaluation of situations in which the rights of children are violated for necessary decision making and action. References Fadiman, A. (1998). The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York: Noonday Press. Myerhoff, B. G. (1978). Number our days. New York, N.Y: Simon and Schuster. Read More