Loss and Bereavement - Assignment Example

This is especially evident during loss and bereavement and the numerous religious beliefs and practices associated with it. Often the majority community expects from minority ethnic groups to adopt their own practices which they perceive as normative. (Field, Hockey, Small, 1997, 17) Western modes of behaviour and lifestyle are often expected from Asian and other minority communities without any effort to understand their indigenous culture. Discriminative stereotypes are also found in health care institutions and at the event of death in hospitals they clearly manifest themselves in the handling of bereavement-associated issues of non-western communities.

Some health professionals directly discriminate members of certain minority groups. Ethnic minorities may find themselves in a difficult situation at the loss of a family member also due to the lack of information, partly because written information on what the procedure following death involves in the particular country is not available in their mother tongue. Local centres of the varied communities are not always sufficient or efficient in providing the required information and services in relation to the procedures at death which would be integrated into the wider community structure while also preserving the particular ethnic and religious identity tendencies of the minority group.

(Field, Hockey, Small, 1997, 18)Discussion of issues of social policy, legal context and social work intervention in relation to loss and bereavementSocial policy in relation to loss and bereavement in our increasingly globalised and intercultural world requires the need to demonstrate the cultural belief as well as value systems of the varied ethnic communities. Cultures tend to create their own set of values which would become institutionalised in the form of different kinds of social and political establishments.

Care giving policies which are being applied to the dying and bereaved who belongs to various ethnic communities need to adopt an approach which is intercultural in nature. Doka and Davidson have proposed the following points which ought to be taken into consideration to be remembered: "skilled, sensitive caregivers understand that there are as many forms and models as there are cultural contexts; the work of intercultural bereavement support demands creativity, flexibility, humility, and an appreciation for the individuality of those we serve; the care of patients with different cultural beliefs requires a combination of knowledge, attitudes and skills" (Doka, Davidson, 1998, 266) Each culture tends to operate with a unique system of logic, symbolism as well as outward modes of behaviour.

The social policy with regard to provision of care must tend to develop skills required to comprehend the varied cultures on a cognitive as also affective level. The given culture needs to be conceptualized, perceived, and accepted as well as should be equally valid with regard to the social caregiver's own forms of culture. In this way overcoming the cultural barriers could reduce to a wide level the experience of suffering, pain as well as helplessness being