Cultural Identity: Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes - Essay Example

Cultural Identity Name Date Cultural Identity Mind Map Reflection How the Key Elements of My Cultural Identity and Derived Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes Impact on my Professional Interactions and Practice in the Healthcare Environment Every person has a culture. Culture plays a critical role in defining a person. Durkheim, one of the ancient thinkers, argued that acts that appear to be personal are sometimes attributed to broader societal phenomena (Usborne & Sablonniere, 2014). Koutoukidis, Stainton, and Hughson (2012) argue that culture has a significant role in shaping the personal life of a person. Thurston (2013) supports this argument noting that a person’s practices, behaviours, beliefs, values, and ways of life often have a foundation on culture. Therefore, understanding one’s cultural identity is an important part of professional development for nurses. In this reflective writing, I identify the key elements of my cultural identity and resulting values, beliefs, and attitudes, as presented in the mid map above. I also reflect on the way these elements of my cultural identity affect my professional interactions and practice in the healthcare environment. What exactly is culture? Usborne and Sablonniere (2014) define it as shared beliefs, values, symbols, artifacts, words, and objects shared by groups of people. Analysing culture from this perspective suggests that people belong to certain groups and that these groups significantly differ based on their respective cultures. It would therefore suggest, for example, that a Muslim would be very different from a Christian depending on the values that these two religious groups teach. However, culture is dynamic in nature. It is something we learn on a daily basis. Its dynamism is especially prominent or the case in the contemporary world where people are increasingly interacting with others and moving into new places and learning new culture (Wilson, Ward, & Fischer, 2013). Therefore, cultural boundaries that once existed are increasingly becoming permeable leaving people to negotiate their identity between multiple and sometimes competing or contradicting behaviours, norms, and values. For instance, I wonder the culture to which I actually belong; am I Eurasian, Filipina, or Spanish. I am multicultural. Therefore, it ceases to make sense to study culture as a distinct entity, which in turn introduces the importance of understanding one’s cultural identity. The latter is the extent to which one understands beliefs, values, norms, and attitudes stemming from the various cultural elements including, family, religion, education, gender, socio-economic status, generation, race, and ethnicity amongst others (Usborne & Sablonniere, 2014). Multiculturalism and the fact that distinct cultural lines are increasingly fading are making cultural identity complex. The four key elements of my cultural identity are ethnicity, family, religion, and education. My cultural identity is that of Eurasian/Filipina/Spanish, middle class, Catholic, female. This cultural identity has greatly helped me to develop values and beliefs that guide my personal and professional life. I identify my personal values as passion, kindness, caring, compassion, open-mindedness, and respect. A notable personal value that I have built since my childhood is open-mindedness, which has in turn made me to develop self-awareness. I was brought up in a multicultural community. During teenage, I used to interact with people from different ethnicities and races. My mother always taught us to treat every person equally but not on the basis of race, colour, gender or any other difference. I understand that she experienced considerable discrimination during her childhood and teenage, which encouraged her to fight for non-discrimination and equality. I picked up this fight from her early in my life, which has helped me to have an open mind when interacting with people. I appreciate that people are different in a myriad of ways even if they share parents or religion. My nursing education has helped me to develop this value further. Notably, topics on cultural understanding and awareness have helped me to approach people with an open mind putting away personal differences and focusing on things that are important at that time. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) explain the importance of being open-minded especially in understanding other cultures when dealing with patients (2011). When caregivers fail to learn about other cultures, this may result to culturally unacceptable care and in turn leading to poor quality care (Omeri & Raymond, 2009). Therefore, this personal value will greatly help me to deliver high quality care that is acceptable to patients and their families. One of the barriers to equal access to care is failure to deliver culturally appropriate care (ACOG, 2011). Cultural competence is therefore a crucial skill for today’s healthcare providers, which enables them to deliver culturally acceptable care and hence increase access to care (Berger, Conroy, Peerson, & Brazil, 2014). Accordingly, my value of open-mindedness will help me to ensure equal access to care. Healthcare needs are always changing. The need for continuous quality improvement (CQI) is always on the rise. According to Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino (2008), healthcare leaders must strive to make their institutions learning organisations. An institution is called a learning organisation if workers develop learning behaviors. Learning is a process whereby employees share cognition through integration of experiences, knowledge, and perspectives. It also involves establishment of a social context that nourishes employee willingness to engage in knowledge practices gained (Garvin, Edmondson, & Gino, 2008). In the process, healthcare teams take necessary action, obtain data and feedback, and then make necessary changes to move service quality to the next level. Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino believe that every modern organisation must become a learning organisation if it is to adapt to rapid market changes while meeting ever-changing customer needs (2008). This means that as a healthcare provider, I must be open to new knowledge, be ready to implement it, and create new knowledge to share with others. In doing so, I will greatly contribute to the betterment of the society through enhanced healthcare quality. As a nurse, I understand the importance of implementing evidence-based practices to improve patient outcomes and in doing so I will help my organisation to become a learning institution. Therefore, being open-minded will greatly help me because I am highly receptive of new knowledge created in the field. However, I must accompany this value with critical thinking and analysis skills to ensure that I only apply knowledge that promises improvement. Another important personal value I have developed since childhood is respect. In the Spanish culture, elders are highly valued and respected. I spent a considerable part of my formative years with my grandparents who taught me on the importance of respect. Having lived in a rather multicultural community, I learned how to live with people from different cultures by respecting every person despite our differences. Being a staunch Catholic, I have continuously developed this value, which is one of the elements of our religious teachings. Moreover, interacting with friends and students from different cultures has served to develop this value especially respecting other people’s opinions, values, beliefs, and behaviours. McSherry, McSherry and Watson (2012) define respect as valuing a person as a whole. It highly relates to attitudes towards others including the way healthcare providers behave when interacting with patients. Nurses are expected to treat patients with respect involving acknowledging the feelings and interests of the latter (Upvall & Leffers, 2014). Respect leads to dignity. When patients are respected, they feel they were treated with dignity and this increases their self worth. However, developing negative attitudes and showing undesirable behaviors to patients prevents effective healthcare deliver (Upvall & Leffers, 2014). In order for healthcare providers to work as a team, which has been shown to improve care quality (Upvall & Leffers, 2014), they must treat each other with respect irrespective of profession, specialty, rank, race, gender and other differences. Multidisciplinary teams are increasingly becoming common as a model for care delivery. Therefore, respect is an extremely important value that every caregiver must have in order to work collaboratively with others. Therefore, this value will help me in interacting with other healthcare professionals and patients. Kindness, compassion, and caring go hand in hand (Chambers & Ryder, 2009). For me, the three values are innate and the primary reason why I pursued nursing. To be specific, I believe I have a calling to care for the needy. I believe I am kind because of being a woman, but my family and church have played a crucial role in the development of this value. I learned simple acts of kindness and caring from my mother who taught me the value of giving to the needy. Religion has also played a part in this value. Apart from teachings on these three values, I have been participating in acts of kindness since I was a teenager. With my friends, I often visit orphanages and other places where there are needy people simply to help them. Nurses require these three values in every aspect of their work. According to Koob and Koob (2007), compassion is crucial in nursing care. This skill helps caregivers to understand difficulties patients are undergoing so that they develop appropriate therapeutic relationships aimed at making patients comfortable. In a study conducted by Vachon (2016), kindness and caring were ranked high as elements that patients consider in evaluating healthcare quality. These values will therefore, contribute to my professionalism by helping me to deliver high quality care. Conclusion Culture is dynamic especially in the modern world of increasing cultural diversity. Numerous factors affect one’s cultural identity. Notable elements of my cultural identity include ethnicity, family, religion, and education, which have contributed to my personal values of passion, kindness, caring, compassion, open-mindedness, and respect. These values will promote my professional practice as a nurse and interaction with other healthcare providers and patients. The value of open-mindedness will help me to embrace new knowledge and understand other people irrespective of cultural differences between us. Respect will help me to treat other people with dignity thereby promoting culturally acceptable and quality care. Kindness, compassion, and caring are arguably required for every nurse to deliver care as required. These three values will help me to establish appropriate therapeutic relationships with patients. References American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2011). Cultural sensitivity and awareness in the delivery of health care. retrieved from http://www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Health-Care-for-Underserved-Women/Cultural-Sensitivity-and-Awareness-in-the-Delivery-of-Health-Care Berger, G., Conroy, S., Peerson, A. & Brazil, V. (2014). Clinical supervisors and cultural competence. The Clinical Teacher, 11, 370-374. doi: 10.1111/tct.12170 Chambers, C., & Ryder, E. (2009). Compassion and caring in nursing. New York, NY: Radcliffe Publishing. Garvin, D. A., Edmondson, A. C., & Gino, F. (2008). Is yours a learning organization? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2008/03/is-yours-a-learning-organization Koob, J., & Koob, P. (2007). Caring for difficult patients: A guide for nursing professionals. Infinity Publishing. Koutoukidis, G., Stainton, K., & Hughson, J. (2012). Tabner’s nursing care: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Elsevier. McSherry, W., McSherry, R., & Watson, R. (2012). Car in nursing: Principles, values, and skills. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Omeri, A., & Raymond, L. (2009). Diversity in the context of multicultural Australia: Implications for nursing practice. In J. Daly, S. Speedy & D. Jackson (Eds.), Contexts of nursing: An introduction, Ch. 20, (3rd ed.). Australia: Elsevier, Churchill Livingstone. Retrieved from http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=nursing_c Thurston, C. (2013). Essential nursing care for children and young people: Theory, policy and practice. New York, NY: Routledge. Upval, M. J., & Leffers, J. (2014). Global health nursing: Building and sustaining partnerships. Springer Publishing Company, LLC. Usborne, E., & Sablonniere, R. (2014). Understanding my culture means understanding myself: The function of cultural identity clarity for personal identity clarity and personal psychological well-being. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 44(4), 436-458. Vachon, M. L. (2016). Targeted intervention for family and professional caregivers: Attachment, empathy, and compassion. Palliative Medicine, 30(2), 101-103. Wilson, J., Ward, C., & Fischer, R. (2013). Beyond culture learning theory: what can personality tell us about cultural competence? Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 44(6), 900-927. doi: 10.1177/0022022113492889 Read More