Cultural Assessment (M4C) - Essay Example

Western Scientific Paradigm The Western scientific paradigm is the term used for a system that deals with scientific comprehension of a disease which involves formation of a hypothesis, scientific diagnosis, testing of hypothesis under scientifically controlled system, and analysis of results based upon the hypothesis. The Western system is of the view that curing a disease is very much like repairing a machine which requires a lot of research regarding the cause of the diseases and its treatment.

Thus, the form of medical treatments we have today, like in acupuncture, physiotherapy, surgery, and pharmacy, have been scientifically approved of their efficacy by the Western science which depends a lot on professionalism and scientific thought. Working upon doctrines of mind-body dualism, mechanical analogy, physical reductionism, definite regimen and control, and specific cause for every disease, the Western scientific paradigm offers treatments that are statistically different and proven.

It has many implications for health care in U.S. in that it works upon the mind and body separately and the body is considered as a number of interrelated systems working together and any abnormality in any of these systems is cured by treating the cause of that disease. 2. Since, Western science looks at the disease from a mechanistic view, it focuses more on the treatment which makes it very expensive. The body is considered as all materialistic and if something is not seen under the microscope, it means that it does not exist.

In a culturally diverse society as U.S., the Western scientific paradigm can be a problem because it may cause cultural clashes between the communities because of difference of opinions and beliefs. For example, if a patient from another culture tells his doctor that he will prefer using some natural herbs before taking the prescribed medicine, the doctor may turn off and refuse the treatment, or it may also result in over medication of the patient if he applies both his traditional medication and the physician’s medication simultaneously.

Since people from different cultures may not understand the disease in Western terms, or may make “unexamined assumptions that are based on traditional beliefs” (American Geriatrics Society & Ethnogeriatrics Committee, 2006, p.8), thus there is great chance of confusion and misapprehension between the doctor and the patient. 3. Alternatives to Western scientific paradigm include “non-Western intellectual traditions” (Jamison, 1994) which may revolve around two approaches. The traditionalist approach deals with the revival of the pre-colonial past.

The integrative approach combines the indigenous traditions and their elements together in an efficient developmental framework like the communist model of development. The non-Western methods and scientific approaches are seriously being struggled upon in the third world and the developing countries but the non-Western approaches have been partial and self-defeating as yet and “have not been welcomed by the research establishment in the United States” (Cuellar & Paniagua, 2000, p.101). If they become successful then they will benefit the approach to science by making it more humane.

These non-Western alternatives can be applied to specific cultural groups because they will tend to reduce the cultural clashes and misunderstandings that result due to the application of Western scientific paradigm. References American Geriatrics Society & Ethnogeriatrics Committee. (2006). Tradition and health beliefs. Doorway Thoughts: Cross-Cultural Health Care for Older Adults, Volume 2. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Cuellar, I., & Paniagua, FA. (2000). Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health: Assessment and Treatment of Diverse Populations.

USA: Academic Press. Jamison, A. (1994). Western science in perspective and the search for alternatives. In Salomon, J (Ed.), The Uncertain Quest: Science, Technology, and Development. Tokyo, New York, Paris: United Nations University Press.