Hertage Assesment - Essay Example

? Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Heritage Assessment Tool 3 Why there is a need for Cultural and Heritage Assessment 4 Heritage Assessment Interview Results 6 First Family (My Family) 6 The Second Family 7 Discussion 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Heritage Assessment Introduction Cultural beliefs form the manner in which individuals seek assistance, describe health problems, and eventually stick to therapeutic regimens. There is frequently a conflict concerning patients’ practices and those understood to be suitable by the health care providing society because attitudes vary amongst ethnic groups. It is imperative that the healthcare provide knows: Possess the information of cultural ingestion patterns and family traditions such as core foods, fasting and traditional celebrations. Be able to know limits of own abilities and cultural competencies How own cultural background and experiences and attitudes, biases, values influence nutrition therapy. Have shifted from a position of cultural awareness to a position of being sensitive and aware in relation to cultural heritage. The aspect of respecting and valuing respecting differences is also inclusive. Understand food selection, preparation, and storage with a cultural context. Familiarize him/her with relevant research and latest findings concerning food practices and nutrition-related health troubles of a variety of and racial groups. Heritage Assessment Tool Cultural heritage plays a big part in the economic, health and social promotion of the person. The use of heritage evaluation tools helps healthcare providers assess and look at someone’s tradition, as well as customary health methods used to keep health, protect health, and re-establish health; by putting in use these ideas, it helps healthcare professionals cope with a person’s mental, spiritual beliefs and physical. Different cultures have special values and beliefs of health, disease, birth, illness, and; assessing these cultural competencies is vital in order to offer a holistic approach. Heritage assessment tools helps both the health provider and patient by opening a passageway for an efficient communication of one’s values, beliefs, in regards to, illness, health, spiritual values as well as family support. Why there is a need for Cultural and Heritage Assessment The United States is home for diverse culture. Culture is defined as “the learned, shared, and transmitted values, lifestyle, beliefs, norms, and practices of a particular group that guide, decisions, opinion and actions in patterned way”. Heritage assessment is a great tool to know about one’s own beliefs and health traditions. Nurses have to understand their own cultural practices in order to relate to others. There is high-quality proof that health professionals do not, by design, boast the skills and attitudes essential to be successful in culturally varied healthcare environments. This study therefore examines the connection by investigating how cutting edge staff and patients in great urban hospitals identify issues of healthcare workforce and patient diversity. As a community practitioner, one should be aware that specific conditions develop at critical times in family development and it is their understanding of the culture influencing the community that will solve these problems in a fast and efficient manner. Among the important challenges nutritionists and dietitians come across at present and in the near future are the increased emphasis on client/patient behavioral changes in relation to evidence of effectiveness: and the more and more diverse population of this country. Sensitivity to cultural differences in us and in those of different cultural backgrounds is a significant feature of competence in the attainment of a diverse population. Nutrition counselors are at the moment and will be tested on their capability to create desirable behavioral changes in patients/clients. Language barriers also contribute to the complexity of the cultural diversity problem within the healthcare system. Patients who are capable of communicating effortlessly in English experience an improved superiority of relations, and eventually enhanced handling than those who name communication as a barrier (Bhimani and Acorn, 1998). A regular premise articulated by healthcare workers is the consciousness of patient and worker preferences to be cared for and to care for people alike to them. However, these members of the workforce did not consider that the cultural setting affected their work ethic, but they considered ethnic preferences amongst co-workers could possibly lead to prejudice in patient care with some workers feeling belittled by patients who, because of their skin color, did not respect them (Bhimani and Acorn, 1998). Culture was a panel by which patients assessed hospitals. Patients found themselves constantly mediating between their own set of beliefs and healthcare practices and those that shaped the healthcare institution in another country. They frequently favor to be cared for by people who share their cultural backgrounds as well as health practices from their indigenous countries (Gill, 1996). Furthermore, as a result of the historic underfunding of research attentive to tropical diseases, globalization means that ill-equipped health centers and laboratory services face escalating introduction to ignored pathogens and health troubles that trouble migrants. Travelling groups can also launch new or formerly eradicated illnesses to the area of settlement, or catch diseases unfamiliar to the migrants' area of origin (Shaw-Taylor and Benesch, 1998). Health assessment tools identify risk factors that are the result of behaviors that can be self-evaluated and corrected to bring about improved health. It is also very useful in the identification of areas of weakness within the nuclear family, which could point out to the healthcare practitioner, the origins of the nutritional and health problems faced by different families from different communities. It is possible to also identify the patterns of daily life in the traditional perspective on the themes of excursive, sleep and nutrition. Traditional methods of restoring, maintaining and protecting HEALTH need the understanding and knowledge of HEALTH-related resources from inside a given person’s ethno-religious cultural heritage and community. These methods may be used in place of or the length with modern methods of health care. They are not optional health care methods such that they are methods that are an vital part of an individual’s respective heritage. It is significant to note that the duty of collecting all this information is very much reduced by the use of the heritage assessment tool. Heritage Assessment Interview Results The following is a heritage assessment interview results for two different families. The two families are of Indian and Philippines origin. It is important to note that I am of the Indian origin meaning that my family will be discussed first. First Family (My Family) My entire family including my mother, father, grandparents (from both sides) was born in India. I have one sister. I must note that I grew up in a suburban setting. My parents, that is, mother and father both grew up in India. I moved to the United States when I was twenty four years. My parents are still in India. I lived with my mother and sister most of my life. I have tried to keep contact with my uncles, aunties, cousins, brothers and sisters, and even my children since I totally value my family. Most of my aunts, uncles and cousins did not really live near my home. This situation resulted into a little bit of an issue in relation to keeping close contact. I have since tried to keep in touch through phone calls and e-mails alike. A true account is that I have visited this group of my family once a year or less. My original family name has since changed. I am Christian with a catholic preference. I share both religion and ethnic background with my wife. I went to a public school. I therefore belong to a religious institution (church) where I am an active member. I go to church on a weekly basis. I do practice my religion at home by praying, reading the bible and celebrating all the religious holidays. My neighbors are of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. This brings a rich diversity in the area such that there is so much to learn from one another. My eating habits greatly depend on my ethnic background. I participate in all ethnic activities simply because I am still an Indian irrespective of where I live at the moment. I take active roles in holiday celebrations and festivals. I do not share neither religious nor ethnic background with my friends. My native language is Malayalam which I occasionally perhaps it is an attribute of my changed environment. However, I usually read my native language from various sources such as the internet, articles and books. The Second Family A member of the second family was also interviewed and the following are the findings. His family members including his parents (mother and father) and grandparents from both sides were born in Philippines. He preferably speaks Tagaloo and it so unfortunate that he does not read his native language. At the time of the interview, the family member had four brothers and three sisters. He grew up in a rural home setting in the Philippines. It is important to note that his parents grew up in Philippines. The interviewee moved to the United States at the age of 21. His mother was 60 years when they moved to the US. As he grew up, he shared his home with his immediate family including his father, mother, brothers and sisters. To date, the interviewee has maintained contact with his aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, parents and his children alike. His aunts, uncles and cousins did not live near his home. He managed to visit respective members of his family once a year or less. His original family name has since changed. He is a catholic by religious affiliation. He shares both ethnic and religious backgrounds with his spouse. He attended a private school. He belongs to a neighborhood which has a wide variety of religious backgrounds. He belongs to a religious institution where he carries himself as a very active member. He therefore goes to church more than once a week. Furthermore, he practices his religions at home through prayer, reading the bible and celebrating religious holidays. He still prepares foods of his ethnic background notwithstanding the fact that he participates in ethnic activities as much as possible. The activities include singing, holiday celebrations, dancing, festivals and costumes. Another true account is that he shares the same religious and ethnic background with his friends. The heritage assessment tool that was used to generate the two comprehensive interviews was based on Spector’s (2000) article. Discussion It is evident how the two families have fresh roots with their original ethnicity as much as they have since changed their original family names. The fairly close contact with their families means that they still embrace their traditions. They both observe eating habits in relation to their traditions. This means that health status is more inclined to their traditions. In relation to the first family, Indians are known to enjoy very spicy cuisine and hence have their own traditional methods of dealing with health issues. Indians are known to be affected by health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, nutritional deficits, tuberculosis, sickle cell anemia, malaria, dental caries, periodontal disease. This particular ethnic group uses culturally appropriate geneatric care to take care of the elders among other aspects in relation to their historical experiences and health beliefs. Sick people are usually taken to hospital for treatment. Conclusion Once the known patient’s ethno cultural history is learned and the level at which this person identifies with the given custom detected. It is for this reason that the issue of discovering the role that the given heritage plays in the situation should be highly stressed. The tool helps to carry out a heritage evaluation depending on how genuinely the person identifies and offers relevant answers to questions such that it is instrumental in terms of setting the appropriate stage for the purposes of understanding the health traditions of the individual (Shaw-Taylor and Benesch, 1998). The volume or size of the figure of the positive responses indicates how an individual’s capability to identification with traditional heritage. References Bhimani, R. and S. Acorn.(1998). Managing within a culturally diverse environment. Canadian Nurse. Gill, Philip. (1996). Managing workforce diversity - a response to skill shortages?. Health Manpower Management. Shaw-Taylor, Y. and B. Benesch. (1998). workforce diversity and cultural competence in healthcare. Journal of Cultural diversity. Spector, R. E. (2000). CulturalCare: Guide to heritage assessment and health traditions (5th ed.). Pearson Education/PH. Read More