Cultural Identity and Health - Essay Example

"Cultural Identity and Health" is a smart example of a paper on social and family issues.
Different cultures have systems of health beliefs as to what causes sicknesses and how they can cure it without necessarily involving a medic. These beliefs and cultures present unique challenges to the practice of medicine. Despite the tremendous improvement in overall health in the US, great disparities exist among different communities in terms of health status, different cases of illnesses, and means of accessing health care. This paper examines some cultural identities that hinder good health in the US.

To a good extent, cultural beliefs, values, and traditions hinder health education efforts. Medics have a rough time explaining to a person who holds onto some beliefs that they are sick whereas they cannot see that sickness. Such beliefs vary in cultural groups and in families. For instance, in Justine Chitsena’s case, it is hard for the physicians to explain to Justine’s grandmother of this illness that she cannot see. Justine’s mother seems to understand a bit but she is bound by her mother’s belief that the implications of opening her daughter's chest go beyond what physicians can see. This is because her body will be damaged by the surgery and she will have to carry the scar with her throughout her life. According to Euromed Info, “cultural differences affect patients’ attitudes about medical care and their ability to understand, manage, and cope with the course of an illness, the meaning of a diagnosis, and the consequences of medical treatment”(Eromed Info Web). This influences the know-how in a patient before the treatment partly because of their expectations.

Cultural beliefs, values, and traditions may enhance health education efforts. Due to resistance to treatment by different cultural groups and families, medics must develop means of counteracting them. Already, patients have their own perspective and specific beliefs about their illnesses and their treatments. This means that for doctors to convince such, they need to first understand the patient’s explanatory model, formulate their own, and be ready to answer any questions arising from the patients. According to National institutes on health, health care providers need to have the ability to deliver culturally appropriate and specifically tailored care to patients with diverse values, beliefs, and behaviors (National institutes on health, Web). Currently, this is lacking in the current curriculum and needs to be included.

The health professionals on the video clip tried their best to lay the facts of Justine’s case bare to her family. In Justine’s case, the mother acted as the intermediary between the physicians and the family conveying each discussion the family had to them. Physicians understand this case so well as to offer different treatments available and their efficiency. They do not impose any treatment on Justine but allows the mother to make a final decision to the treatment.

Physicians should assess how different patients prefer to make decisions either alone or through their family and respect that. Physicians should listen actively with respect to the beliefs of their patients, speak about their own experience without generalizing, refrain from personal attacks, and keep an open mind all through when communicating with the patients.