What is cultural diversity like? Why is it so important? Does the world need cultural diversity? These are all questions to think about when learning about the importance of culture. It’s important to have awareness of culture without being biased. In healthcare, cultural diversity has the ability to enrich the medical field. It shows different types of beliefs, characteristics, and practices which can provide learning skills to healthcare professionals. If you are considering a career in healthcare, you also need to keep in mind the ethical and cultural considerations. These considerations are shared by many cultures like Hispanic/Latino Americans, Middle Eastern/Arab Americans, African Americans, and also Native Americans. Ethnicity represents …show more content…
So what is cultural diversity? Cultural diversity is being able to appreciate the differences of a group with other ways of living. In healthcare, cultural diversity is crucial for Post, Extemporaneous Writing Essay 3 providing inclusive medical care. Health care professionals can change and adapt their approach to meet the needs of the patient to make sure that they get the specific care they need. Cultural assimilation is a process of adopting a dominant culture and handing over another person's own cultural identity. An example of cultural assimilation would be immigrants moving to the United States. These people leave their home country for some sort of reason and migrate to the United States. They then start to adopt the culture of the United States and start to make that their “new” culture. Acculturation, on the other hand, is like blending two cultures together. This would be like if the immigrants moved to the United States and instead of handing over their culture to the dominant one, they would blend the two cultures together. In this case, they aren’t giving up their old culture and starting fresh, they are finding a balance between the …show more content…
This can also be applied to the other behaviors. Gestures are also very important to be considerate about. Asian and Native Americans view gestures as a very strong threat and can be misinterpreted as rude or disrespectful. It is easy for a patient to get uncomfortable in a situation if these behaviors aren’t applied correctly. Cultural sensitivity is a way of respecting the different ways people not only live, but also express themselves and Post, Extemporaneous Writing Essay 4 think. In a way, it’s kind of like empathy, but for cultures. Empathy is the ability to understand, sense, and share the feelings of another person. Cultural sensitivity is being aware that different people come from many different backgrounds and all have a different way of living. It helps people be able to recognize and appreciate the differences in culture, and to make sure that everyone around them feels like they have respect and are appreciated for who they really are. In conclusion, cultural awareness and diversity are both vital for healthcare to run smoothly and not have any
Cobb, Torry Grantham, DHSc, MPH,M.H.S., P.A.-C. (2010). STRATEGIES FOR PROVIDING CULTURAL COMPETENT HEALTH CARE FOR HMONG AMERICANS. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 17(3), 79-83. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp-01.lirn.net/docview/750318474?accountid=158556
This essay will focus on outlining the fundamental principles of cultural diversity and how effective nursing interventions are used when providing an adequate amount of care for an individual from a culturally diverse background and how this may collide with the nursing therapeutic engagement. This essay will give the reader an insight upon culture whilst giving a significant explanation of cultural differences within a health setting. The patient’s real name will not be used and will be referred to as Mr. X. This is in line with the Nursing and midwifery Council 2008 (NMC, 2008) requirements to maintain confidentiality at all times.
The healthcare system within America reflects increasing numbers of cultural diversity and awareness. According to Holloway (2004), cultural awareness is defined as the deliberate, cognitive process by which health care providers become appreciative of and sensitive to the values, beliefs, practices, and problem solving strategies of the clients’ cultures. Cultural awareness include an examination of one’s personal biases. In order to understand cultural diversity, individuals must strive to acknowledge the prejudices they may already hold toward different cultures. On the other hand, cultural competence is a process through which health professionals can integrate their knowledge and skills to improve culturally effective interactions with clients (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
The purpose of the assessment is to address the competence of different cultures. As a number of Haitian immigrants in to the United States, it continues to grow at a steady rate (DeSilva, Gonzales-Eastep, Grey, & Nicolas, 2006). It is very important that mental health providers become better informed, and develop the skill sets necessary to combine the providers’ and clients’ cultural backgrounds into the treatment (DeSilva, Gonzales-Eastep, Grey & Nicolas, 2006). I will be conducting an assessment on, Mrs. Hudson an Haitian American woman who was referred by her primary care doctor, because of symptoms that; she is experiencing when she leaves her home. This is Mrs. Hudson’s first time to a mental health counselor.
The 21st century is the era of technology and modernization. Through extremely efficient and rapid communication systems, businesses are being conducted across the globe from one single point of command and coordination. Through strong and reliable networks, it is very easy for a person to be in one corner of the world in the morning and in the other corner in the evening. Processes are becoming more and more effective and efficient and the world is coming closer as if it were a global village. This phenomenon is called globalization.
Going to a different country or area of the world can open up anybody’s eyes to see that culture makes a huge impact on the understanding and practices of healthcare that seem to be so common to other areas of the world. When a person lives in one country their whole life, that person may not realize how different the life they live is from someone in a foreign country. If a person is going to receive treatment from someone with a different cultural background, they should be expected to get treatment to respects their own culture. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences having such a diverse variety of students has their own cultural competency definition that states “effectively and comfortably communicate across cultures with patients of differing backgrounds, taking into account aspects of trust in order to adopt mutually acceptable objectives and measures”. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler, the issue of culture and healthcare are greatly prevalent. Katherine Dettwyler herself goes to West Africa as an anthropologist and her horizons are broadened when during her research she comes in contact with how much culture has an impact on healthcare and everyday life.
research on healthcare practices in a culturally diverse setting has established the importance of cultural awareness, competence, and diversity for healthcare workers.
Diversity is one thing, I have come to accept and appreciate greatly in my life. I am 22 years old and was born in Ghana, West Africa. To me, I see myself as an African woman. Reasoning being that both my parents are Africans but from different tribes. I was brought up through the general Ghanaian way, but having my parents from different ethnic groups taught me how to adapt to different cultures and I believe that was where my experience with diversity began. The African continent do have some similarities in the cultures, but being brought up with the Ghanaian culture and norms has really helped me and shaped me to be the respectful and humbled woman I am today. Being a Christian born into the Presbyterian denomination, I do my very best
Cultural competence as defined by the American Medical Association acknowledges the responsibility of healthcare providers to understand and appreciate differences that exist in other cultures (as cited by McCorry & Mason, 2011). Moreover, it is the healthcare provider’s responsibility to not only become knowledgeable of other cultural differences, but to assess and adapt their skills to meet the needs of those patients (McCorry & Mason, 2011). Culturally competent healthcare providers recognize and incorporate cultural diversity, awareness, and sensitivity into the total care of a patient (Matzo & Sherman, 2015). Mr. L. is a Chinese-American man and it appears his culture is influencing his end of life (EOL) experience. It is essential
“Cultural awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions (Quappe, 2007). It is important to be aware of what culture your patient is from because than the nurse can give the patient and family the care that is not offensive o their beliefs. Cultural sensitivity Cultural sensitivity is experienced when neutral language–both verbal and nonverbal–is used in a way that reflects sensitivity and appreciation for the diversity of another. It is conveyed when words, phrases, categorizations, etc. are intentionally avoided, especially when referring to any individual who may interpret them as impolite or offensive (Giger, 2006). Being sensitivity to ones cultural is imperative, this allows the patient and or family to feel more comfortable and have their personal beliefs be respected. Different forms of cultural sensitivity include choice of words and language used while talking to a patient, the use of space while communicating, as well as who in the family to talk to and how to address patients and family. Cultural competence is a combination of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are needed to deliver the proper excellent care to a diverse population. Cultural competence is relevant in order to be able to give
Minnesota is a state with a rich, diverse, and evolving cultural landscape. In the past two decades, Minnesota has seen a significant increase in the number of children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Each of these communities is unique in their culture, values, and perceptions of child development and disabilities. A growing body of research reveals that significant health disparities exist across racial groups in early screening, identification, and diagnosis of developmental delays (CDC, 2014; Mandell et al, 2002; Shattuck et al, 2009; Zuckerman et al., 2014).
In an environment that deals with a vast amount of the diverse population, culture is very important. In fact, many healthcare organizations benefit immensely from the impact of culture in a diverse setting. One benefit of this setting is that culture provides guidelines for employees, patients, doctors, visitors, and others that utilize these facilities. Healthcare organizations set the foundation of their companies using cultural beliefs, values, and a code of conduct to create a diverse and accepting workplace.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management diversity is: “A broad definition of diversity ranges from personality and work style to all of the visible dimensions of diversity such as race, age, ethnicity or gender, to secondary influences such as religion, socioeconomics and education, to work diversities such as management and union, functional level and classification or proximity/distance to headquarters.” Diversity is a huge factor that we are striving for in many occupations around the world, but healthcare is one of the main professions that is becoming more diverse. Not only does it have many positive effects, it is providing the patients and workers with a sense of respect for each other. The patients are able to have a nurse or occupational therapists that understand where they are coming from. They might have the same morals or they might be in a similar situation as the patient, so they will be able to relate with the patient and understand them during difficult times. More companies are relating diversity into the workforce. Therefore they are able to have a more successful business because of the many changes they are making to meet the needs of each individual.
Nurses need to be culturally competent to take care of individuals that have different cultures. Cultural diversity means that someone can take their beliefs and views about their culture and put them aside to be surrounded by new cultures and learn about those cultures that doesn't necessarily make them change their own cultural ways. Nurses need to be culturally diverse due to the nature of our job field. We do not get to choose who we take care of and we need to put aside our feelings and values, so that we can give excellent care to those who are ill. Sometimes this means that nurses must put aside their own cultures, and learn about new cultures so that we can take care of these patients.
First off let’s understand exactly what ethnic psychology is. Ethnic Psychology seeks to advance psychological science of culture, ethnicity, and race through the publication of empirical research, as well as theoretical, conceptual and integrative review articles that will stimulate further empirical research, on basic and applied psychological issues relevant to racial and ethnic groups that have been historically subordinated underrepresented, or underserved (Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. American Psychological Association). Within Ethnic Psychology we share what is called an ethnic identity.