Practice of Human Services across Different Cultures and Populations - Research Paper Example

It started of back then and continues to date. Different nations at different points in their history adopted legislation to regard ethnicity and culture of people while offering them services. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, the 1996 Inter-Ethnic Placement Provision recognizes the role culture plays in the inception of services to children and their overall well-being. Islam, a religion practiced by Muslims also evolved over the years in its practice of human services. (Bronner, 1996)The followers of the faith had been historically open to accept the ways of non-believers.

For instance they adopted practices such as male circumcision, cupping and ligaturing. In the pre-modern era, they used to rely heavily upon Greek medical practices. This kind of tolerance paved for more development in the field of medical sciences. Later on, over the years, European medical practices strongly influenced many Muslim societies. Practices surrounding death and are universal even today and are not influenced by culture or faith. During the 17th-19th centuries many Jewish social service organizations started cropping up in America.

Just when these agencies were beginning to take ground in America, the United Way Umbrella emerged under which community funds would serve the entire community. However this practice changed slowly when Catholic clients would be referred to an agency of his religion. The arrangement was abandoned over the years and today it is not uncommon for Jewish families to receive referrals from agencies of other ethnic groups. Even non-Jews are served in Jewish family agencies today. They are supported by both the government and United Way.

Infact, they cannot exist without funding from these sources. (West Newman, 2005) How culture influences the current practice of human services in Health For the most part, the paper will be discussed keeping in mind the health-care system of the United States. The allopathic system of health care in America is a culture is in its own right. There are various ways in which culture and health-care hinge at one point. Health-care providers in US are bold, out spoken and confident. While this may be acceptable in American culture, it is considered offensive by other culture.

Many cultures for consider talking loudly as rude and it is possible that the patient may mis-understand it as a sign of anger by the health-care provider. Cultural traditions take on different meanings of eye-contact. While some cultures avoid eye-contact out of respect, American culture does not discourage fleeting gaze. There is a chance that the patient may consider it as inappropriate behavior. “Touch” is perceived differently by different cultures. There are some cultures which stress modesty and touching body-parts such as chest, abdomen, etc of the opposite sex is deemed uncomfortable and dis-respectful.

In some cultures, touching the head is disregarded, while in some, feet and genitals are considered unhygienic and unclean and should not be touched. These diverse perceptions of touch may give the provider of human-services in-correct and farce assumptions about the patient. Culture also determines the type of food that should be eaten and the type of food that should not be eaten. Providers of human-services need to take care of what food they recommend to patients. A lot of research has been conducted over cultural competency and the way in which human practices differ in different culture