Cultural Factors in Treatment - Essay Example

Losing weight in order to achieve a goal to be heart-healthy may not be on an American Black woman’s cultural radar. For example, many young Black women are taught to have a good body image, regardless of size. This is proven to have been carried over from African tradition, in which the larger someone is, the more beautiful and wealthy they are (at least) perceived to be—although this may not necessarily be the case, it is in one of the African cultures where a study was done proving this to be the case. In one African culture, like many African cultures, according to one study, people were more likely to see having a larger body size as a desirable quality (Matsumoto and Juang, 2008, pp. 212).

Having a larger body in many cultures is seen as a sign of wealth because the person can supposedly afford to buy more food and therefore has more food to eat. This makes much logical sense, but it depends on one’s cultural values with regard to how one sees such a move in society. For example, in the United States, people tend to get thinner the richer they become (Matsumoto and Juang, 2008, pp. 211). This is directly in contrast to the one African culture’s value which has translated into an African-American cultural value that really hits home.

III. Taking Medication
For whatever reason, sometimes people do not want to take their medication. In the case of this particular client, let us presume that perhaps she needs to take some Xanax (also known by its generic name alprazolam) in order to calm herself down in addition to her heart medications. She may not want to take the Xanax because it is a psychotropic medication—which means she would have to be under the care of a psychiatrist. Her cultural belief that seeing a psychiatrist might have some people in her community call her “crazy” is something that she might worry about, with good reason. Sometimes cultural beliefs lead to “noncompliance with treatment,” and for whatever reason, lack of education—for example—can hinder the patient’s health (Matsumoto and Juang, 2008, pp. 218). It is important to reassure the patient that this only really means she needs medication to treat an illness.

IV. Conclusion
According to the research, losing weight and taking regularly-prescribed prescription medications may be countercultural moves for a Black American woman, but she must be coaxed that these are the right decisions to make for her health at this time. Read More