The Cultural Beliefs, Values, and Practices of Patients - Research Paper Example

? Nursing Research Paper Part Introduction Interviews are carried out to obtain information and the interviewee’s views on certain aspects. It is essential that the interviewer obtains general information on the interviewee. In this case, the interviewee was a widowed 76 year old female patient with a 5’9” height and 300lbs of weight. As a result, she is overweight and cannot walk. Therefore, her legs are wrapped in ice bandage. She is mentally stable and very alert. This is seen in the way she paid attention to all the questions that were asked. She is normal and not depressed although she retired from her job. Interviewing is similar to courting where two individuals have to agree on something before doing it. Connection between an interviewer and an interviewee can be seen through numerous aspects. In this interview, there was a sound and outstanding connection between the interviewer and the interviewee. This was seen through the attention that the patient gave to the questions that she was asked (Peate, 2010). She held onto her judgments and opened her mind. The patient kept her ears and eyes into what she was asked and held onto her feelings or body language that would indicate any sort of body language. Additionally, the patient remained curious and deferential throughout the interview. When the patient was engaged in the interview, she responded succinctly. The interview took place in the patient’s house, in her living room, on Monday 10th June 2013 at 6pm and took 30 minutes. Part II: General Assessment Whenever individuals get to the age of 75 and above, they experience changes in their life. Such changes include deterioration of the person’s immune system, memory loss, wear and tear on joints and bones, skin changes and loss of sight. The patient has grey hair, vision loss, walking problems and difficulties in using the bathroom. Eyesight weakens as people get older. Research indicates that at the age of 60, eye cataracts degenerate resulting to weakened sight. Cataracts are cloudy regions in the human eye lens that cause loss of eyesight (Anderson et al, 2010). Cataracts may form and stay small and not affect eyesight while they may become large and affect eye sight. Graying of hair is a clear sign of aging. It can only be understood through delving into biology. Hair color is manufactured by melanin, a protein underneath the skin. When individuals age, the melanin cells also age and start dying out and stop making hair color. Therefore, the color of an aged person turns gray due to the loss of color by melanin. She cannot bear to stand in the bathroom since her joints and bones have worn out. Additionally, she needs help in order to take a bath (Anderson, 2010). The patient notes that she cannot walk for long periods and cannot walk too without a walker. The weight bearing joints and bones in an individual wear down as he or she ages. As a result, the weakened bones prevent an individual from walking. These bones could either be infected with arthritis. This results from the wearing off of cartilage in joints and, therefore, leaves the bones to rub against each other (Anderson, 2010). Additionally, the patient noted that she could not hold her bladder and stool. Loss of bladder control, commonly referred as incontinence, is a common disorder among the aged. Statistics indicate that out of 10 aged people, one is likely to have urinal incontinence. However, this problem seems to be more prevalent among women than in men. The patient is aware of her aging condition and understands that she cannot carryout normal daily activities without help. This is because she is unable to walk and cannot hold her bladder and stool. This makes it hard and challenging for her to do anything for herself. For instance, she faces difficulties when using the bathroom. This is because she cannot stand for long due to her weak bones and joints. The patient satisfies her basic needs through retirement or work through attending church meetings, hobbies through taking trips, kinship through AARP meetings, and socialization through church meetings. Personality progresses in a sequence of phases. The patient appears to be in the ego integrity vs. despair level (Thies & John, 2001). As people grow older, they tend to hold back yield and explore life as retired people. It is at this stage where an individual contemplates on his or her attainments and develop integrity if an individual is leading a successful life (Thies & John, 2001). On the other hand, if an individual finds out that they have not attained anything and do not have a successful life then they will feel guilty and will be depressed and dissatisfied with life. The patient has accepted that she is old and aged and she is comfortable with whatever life throws at her. Part III: Cultural Assessment The following is the cultural background of the interviewee: a) Race: White b) Ethnicity: Italian c) Religion: Catholic d) Class: Middle e) Gender role: Head of the house f) Lifestyle: Introverted, quiet and traumatized. The evaluation designed by Leininger commences with the basic information of the client such as the sex, age, and the context of the interview (Taylor et al, 2010). It gives a rating scale from 1 to 5 where one has to indicate whether the client is operating on an entirely traditional system or primarily a non-traditional system (1= Traditional, 2= moderately traditional, 3= average, 4= moderately non-traditional, 5=non-traditional) Primarily       Primarily 1 2 3 4 5 T M A M NT In collecting such acculturation information, a nurse is expected to note culture dimensions. These include the diet that the patient eats, the one he or she used to eat, and the one he or she avoids. Data observed from the client a) What native foods do you eat daily: Pizza, Risotto, spaghetti b) What native foods do you no longer eat: Gelato and Tiramisu c) What new foods do you eat: Burgers and sandwich, meat drippings, and rice d) What foods to you eat to keep healthy: Mushrooms, fruits e) What foods do you avoid to prevent illnesses: Fries and Bacon f) Do you balance some foods with other foods: Yes g) Are there foods you would not eat: Yes (Taylor, 2010) According to the “Leininger’s Acculturation Health Care Assessment Tool for Cultural Patters in Traditional and Non-Traditional Lifeway’s”, the patient is ranked at 3. This is because she portrays both traditional and non-traditional patterns of lifeway’s. She seems to have an emergency health care plan, a smoke detector, and attend medical checkups, attend religious meetings and AARP meetings while at the same time she does not use some of the non-traditional items such as sunscreen, flu vaccine and does not do exercise. This shows that the patient has both traditional and non-traditional lifestyles. According to Dudek (2010), acculturation refers to a situation where people belonging to a cultural group espouse the dogmas and behaviors of another cultural group. Dietary acculturation takes place when people change their diets to resemble the host country. This is associated to the increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, associated with a high intake of fats, fruits and vegetables. Though acculturation includes other positive benefits, numerous researches indicate that it increases pervasiveness of harmful eating practices. Notably, food habits are not easily changed by acculturation since this takes place behind closed doors in people’s privacy (Dudek, 2010). Research indicates that the first generation of ethnic group’s diet in America is not affected by acculturation (Edelma et al, 2009). However, the second group is slowly affected and deviates from their traditional meals. Acculturation brings new foods to people’s lives. This is fueled by taste, status and the individual’s exposure. Additionally, it is sometimes difficult to find some of the native foods in America, or many of them could be expensive or may involve a lengthy preparation period (Spector, 2013). Acculturation seems to delineate a considerable portion of health behavior of the patient. She seems to still eat some of the native Italian foods such as pizza, risotto and spaghetti. However, there are numerous traditional foods she used to consume such as the Gelato and Tiramisu, which she no longer consumers. She also eats other new foods such as the buggers and sandwiches. This can be attributed to acculturation influenced by factors such as the taste of the foods, status and economic status of the individual (Edelma et al, 2009). Notably, since pizza is tedious and takes a long period to make, the client opts for the commercially made one. Part IV: Research The Italian culture is opulent in customs rooted in the esteemed rites and traditions, passed on from generation to generation. Italians believe in supernatural powers and believe in people with healing hands. Italian’s health beliefs are intertwined with the religious beliefs. Most of them are involved in prayer meetings and Bible study groups where they pray for sicknesses and other illnesses (Spector, 1979). Research indicates that more than 75 percent of Italians take part in such evangelical groups once a month (Roeder, 1999). The Italians immensely subscribe to views regarded as the prosperity gospel. This is the conviction that God honors that faithful with physical welfare. However, there is no cultural opposition to taking the modern and western medicines. Among the older Italian migrant women, there is poor communication of women’s health issues with low numbers of such women having low rates of breast examinations and Pap test. Some of the women have not even heard about such examinations and still believe in checking themselves (Taylor et al, 2010). American-Italians regard physical sicknesses as an imbalance between the environment and the individual. Stimuli in the environment include spiritual, emotional, humoral disproportion, and social state. They like to treat ‘cold’ situations with ‘hot’ medications and ‘hot’ situations with ‘cold’ medication. According to them, dilemmas and challenges are primarily spiritual and should be treated with prayers. However on the contrary, research still shows that most of the American-Italians have turned to cosmopolitan sources of health care as their basis of health care rather the traditional sources (Dudek, 2010). A common hierarchy of looking for relief from religious and traditional healers starts when the individual seeks help from the family members and relatives. Italians also treat themselves at home with herbal, spiced and fruit tea made in a particular way. This is always aimed at offering relief to the person with problems. However, when the person does not attain relief from the tea, then they can seek the help of a religious leader to pray for them or an herbalist. The herbalist or the spiritual healer intervenes to assure the troubled person physical wellbeing. Italians also seek assistance from physicians and clinicians (Anderson et al, 2010). Notably, medicines and prescriptions are shared within social links. There are occasions where an ill individual may concurrently uses prayers, herbal traditional medicines, prescriptions obtained from a friend and prescriptions and medicines obtained from a physician or a health care practitioner. Irrespective of these sources of care, the patient and the family are probable to let in God’s faith as an imperative aspect of apprehension of the dilemma and the cure (Anderson et al, 2010). As noted, the modern Italians are practicing family planning. Pregnancy is observed as a natural phenomenon and most of the pregnant women seek prenatal care late in the pregnancy and in some cases do not seek assistance till delivery. When visiting a hospital, a pregnant mother will most likely be accompanied by family member such as the husband, sister, mother or any other relative. Traditionally, American-Italians do not value disease prevention or health promotion. This has been one of the attributing factors to chronic diseases such as the hypertension and diabetes. Even with the recent developments, there are still high cases of these chronic diseases among Italians (Anderson et al, 2010). Additionally, obesity is another problem that has troubled Italians. This is caused poor nutrition through uptake of junk foods. The Italians still have other customs and beliefs; they believe that responsibilities in the community are based on gender roles. This is attributed to the general view that it is essential for a person to carry out his or her own work and responsibility. The Italian community is primarily composed of aging people. Traditionally, it is the responsibility of the family to take care of the elderly. They do not use any facilities available for the aging and do not admit their elderly to the nursing homes (Anderson et al, 2010). This makes the subscription to such services particularly low among the Italians. The Italian family provides both financial and emotional support to its members. American-Italian people show their emotions openly when communicating with people such as anger and despair. However, they highly express their joy and sadness through their talks and body language. They use such facial expressions in order to make conversations lively. It is often noted that Italians speak a lot. An effective communication is vociferous and verbose. In order to communicate a point, it is imperative that all powers of rhetoric are employed to influence the listener. Children are expected to obey and listen to adults and their parents when being told anything (Anderson et al, 2010). They are supposed to be attentive and respond whenever an adult is done with what he or she was conveying to them. On the other hand, Italian men and women greet each other through kissing once on the left and right cheeks. Part IV: Comparative Analysis E.R shows some similarities and differences between her beliefs, values and practices and Hispanics cultural values, practices and beliefs. She has a strong faith in God and turns to him for healing when not feeling well. This is similar to the Hispanics who are primarily Catholics. Hispanics also believe that health is a gift from God and that he blesses his people through giving them physical wellbeing. Hispanics also immensely subscribe to views regarded as the prosperity gospel. This is the conviction that God honors that faithful with physical welfare. However, she also turns to cosmopolitan health care services through consulting with health care professionals (Roeder, 1999). This is seen by the fact the patient had attended numerous health checks such as the general physical fitness checkup, eye and gynecological checkups. There is no cultural opposition to taking the modern and western medicines among the Hispanics. The patient’s disease prevention and health promotion is similar to Hispanic’s. E.R does not take flu vaccine and does not use sunscreen. Traditionally, the Hispanics do not value prevention and vaccination against diseases (Anderson et al, 2010). This has been one of the contributing factors to chronic diseases among the Hispanics such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. Among the older Hispanic migrant women, there is poor communication of women’s health issues with low numbers of such women having low rates of breast examinations and Pap test. Some of the women have not even heard about such examinations and still believe in checking themselves. However, the Hispanics use traditional healers and herbalists as opposed to the American-Italians (Roede, 1999). The patient does not seem to believe in traditional magic healer. She only turns to God as her only source of strength and healing. However, the Hispanics believe and seek assistance from a ‘Cuarandero’ who intervenes in both physical and spiritual situations (Spector, 1979). Part VI: Reflection The cultural beliefs, values and practices shown by the patient are both similar and different from my beliefs, values and practices. My ethnic group values Christianity and has a strong faith in God too. Similarly to the client’s beliefs, we believe that God gives his people physical strength and fitness as a gift and a reward to them for believing and obeying him. As a result, we like to take part in bible studies and evangelical meetings. This assists us to be closer to God and take courage from the other members of the society. However, we do allow new prescription to drugs and other cosmopolitan health care assistance. This can be attributed to the fact that my ethnic group has a high medical innovativeness. Nonetheless, my ethnic group does not attribute illness entirely to the will of God. We hold the western health belief that each person is responsible for their health and sickness. This is due to the micro-level and natural causes of sicknesses. The patient’s beliefs include assistance from their family members and sharing of medicines and prescriptions within social links. There are occasions where an ill individual may concurrently uses prayers, herbal traditional medicines, prescriptions obtained from a friend and prescriptions and medicines obtained from a physician or a health care practitioner. On the contrary, my ethnic group believes that illnesses can be treated without the assistance of the family and community. The patient’s ethnic group does not support disease prevention and health promotion. E.R does not take flu vaccine and does not use sunscreen. Traditionally, the Italians do not value prevention and vaccination against diseases. This has been one of the contributing factors to chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. On the other hand, my ethnic group supports the use of modern technologies to prevent future diseases and promote health. In this regard, my ethnic group allows people to use items such as sunscreen to promote their health and vaccinations from flu. The Italians and my ethnic group have exceptional traditional beliefs, practices and values exercised at capricious degrees. Some of these beliefs and practices are harmful and others beneficial. Needless to say, many of these individuals who follow these traditional beliefs are hesitant to share them with health care practitioners. References Anderson, Nancy L., Margaret Andrews, Katherine N. Bent, and Marilynn Douglas. (2010). Culturally Based Health and Illness Beliefs and Practices Across the Life Span. Journal of transcultural Nursing 21(1): 152-235. Anderson, N. L., Andrews, M., Bent, K. N., & Douglas, M. (2010). Culturally Based Health and Illness Beliefs and Practices Across the Life Span. Journal of transcultural Nursing, 21(1), 152-235. Dudek, S. (2010). Nutrition Essentials for Nursing Practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Edelman, D., Christian, A., & Mosca, L. (2009). Association of Acculturation Status With Beliefs, Barriers, and Perceptions Related to Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Journal of Trans cultural Nursing, 20(3), 278-285. Peate, I. (2010). Nursing Care and the Activities of Living. Chichester, West Sussex: Blackwell Pub. Roeder, B. A. (1999). Health Care Beliefs and Practices Among Mexican Americans: A Review of the Literature. Aztlan, 1(1), 223-34. Spector, R. (2013). Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness. Boston: Pearson. Spector, R. (1979). Ethnicity and Health: A study of Health care beliefs and Practices. Urban & Social Change Review, 12(2), 34-37. Taylor, C., Lillis, P., Lemone, P., & Lynn, P. (2010). Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing Care (7th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Thies, K., & John, T. (2001). Human Growth and Development through the Lifespan. Thorofare, NJ: Slack, Inc. Read More