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The concepts and definition of diversity in relation to health care
The concepts and definition of diversity in relation to health care
The concepts and definition of diversity in relation to health care
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In this paper, I will discuss my interview I conducted with a Hmong social worker. I will discuss the social worker background covering of her current employment, the length of employment, and position responsibilities. Addition, I will discuss the social worker prior work experience, challenges with the position and agency, and improvement as a social worker. Moreover, I will discuss the social worker experience of services with Hmong, Caucasian, and people of color clients. Lastly, I will conclude with the social worker recommendations to prepare me as a future social worker and correlate to my overall interview experience. Vanessa Chang is a social worker currently working with HealthEast Care System in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Previously,
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
After the Vietnam War, in 1975, thousands of Hmong refugees immigrated to the United States, granted asylum for their participation in the war and in hope for a better future. Today, the children of those refugees and the first generations born on American soil face a variety of challenges, particularly in our public school system. In order to succeed in the Public School system and beyond to higher education, the complications of their educational situation needs to be addressed and changed.(Vang, 2004) . Little research has been done on the needs of Hmong and Hmong- American students, despite the amount that has been preformed on other bilingual students from a number of different backgrounds like Hispanics. Staggeringly, most Hmong students are classified as Limited English Proficient or LEP students. The academic challenges they face require increased attention as the number of Hmong American students continues to expand exponentially in the US public schools.
The Hmong culture is firmly rooted in their spiritual belief of animism, ancestral worship and reincarnation. These beliefs connect them to their sense of health and well-being. They view illness as having either a natural or a spiritual cause. A spiritual cause results in a “loss of souls” or is an action or misdeed that may have offended an ancestor’s spirit (California Department of Health Services, 2004, Purnell, 2013, p. 317). The soul escapes the body and may not be able to find its way back home. The Hmong also believe that a combination of natural and supernatural cause’s results in illness, and spells or curses, violation of taboos, accidents, fright, and infectious disease are other causes for illness (Centers for Disease Control
The data provides culturally competent guidelines for social workers. The social worker must understand and appreciate diversity among and within cultures. They should be aware of the history, culture, and contemporary realities. They also must have good skills in patience, listening, and tolerance of silence. A social worker needs to be aware of their own biases and need for wellness and display humility and a willingness to learn. They need to be respectful, nonjudgemental, and openminded. However, researchers must find a way to measure cultural competence with studies that examine beliefs and evaluate actions of social workers. It should include several cultural groups.This will be highly important in building a knowledge base. Doing these studies there can be a better plan to include cultural competence and serve clients from different backgrounds a lot better.
After reading chapter 1, Birth, some of Hmong customs that stood out to me was when the parents had to bury the placenta after the child was born; depending on the gender the placenta was buries in a special place. I like the meaning that the placenta was a special garment that was first worn by the baby. Furthermore, another custom was when the mother had to satisfy any craving to prevent her baby from getting any type illness, and as well as having a special diet for the mothers after they give birth to help them cleans their body’s after the pregnancy. One custom that really stood out to me from the rest was “Lia’s hu plig” which was a party to appreciate a new child into the world and welcome the soul into a new body; they sacrificed chickens
The Hmong Culture of South Asia is a very interesting ethnic group. Between 300,000 to 600,000 Hmong live in Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. About 8 million more live in the southern provinces of China. Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia have settled in Australia, France, Canada, and the United States. The largest Hmong refugee community lives in the United States with a population of about 110,000. The U.S. Department of state has tried to spread Hmong refugees out across the country to reduce the impact on any one region. Because Hmong families tend to be large in numbers, the community grows rapidly.
Cultural Competence Understanding culture is an important aspect of being a social worker; this does not mean learning common cultural traits is of great significance to the social work profession. “Consider the second-generation Japanese-American social worker whose practice consists of Mexican-American and African-American families. Memorizing national traits or cultural rituals would be interesting and informative, but ultimately these would be an inaccurate basis on which to “know” these particular families” (Dorfman, 1996, p. 33). When understanding cultural competence, it is important to learn from the client about their culture in order to serve them in the most helpful and efficient way possible. There is a major drawback to memorizing information, and that is, this information will not give you a real understanding of who your client is and what life experiences they have personally faced.
The purpose of this interview is to explore human service professional in their work environment, and observe human service professional in their particular settings, what type of education is required for their position of choice. The human services profession has a variety of populations that they serve; this is a wide array of people. Human service professionals serve populations such as, high-risk mothers who may have shortfalls in education, psychosocial, nutritional, and little or no transportation. Another is the homeless population, lack housing due to being unable to afford, or maintain safe and adequate housing. The elderly is a population that is increasing, there needs range from chronic illness, lack of or little education, mentally, financial, loss of independence, and stereotyping. They serve those diagnose with a chronic illnesses, such illnesses may be diagnoses of , high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, there is also the chronic mentally ill who are consider high risk, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD(attention deficit hyperactive disorder). These are just a few of the services that a human service professional may work with.
In the social work practice, social workers should abide by and respect the protocol of their particular organization. The first ethical standard I would like to discuss is that a social worker has cultural competence and social (NASW, 1999). A social worker must possess the knowledge of values, customs, tradition and history, just to name a few, in order to have success with clients that may identify as something other than their own identity. Culture directly impacts human behavior. Within this case study, due to Mrs. Sanchez’s culture, she struggled to assimilate with the American culture and this included her being able to learn the English language.
Springer, J. F, Sale, E, Kasim, R, Winter, W, Sambrano, Soldad, C, (2004). Sandra; Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work: Innovation in Theory, Research & Practice; Vol 13(3); 1-23. Doi: 10.1300/J051v13n03_01
Interviewing and research skills are needed within the social work profession. Effective communication skills are one of the most crucial components of a social worker’s job. Every day, social workers must communicate with clients to gain information, convey critical information and make important decisions (Zeiger, 2017). This interview experience was an opportunity to explore the daily challenges and rewards of a licensed social worker. I was excited for the opportunity to interview a social worker in the gerontology sector as this is a specialty I am considering. This meeting allowed me to explore the educational steps of being a social worker, practices of the agency, the clients who are served, and the challenges the agency has.
The client is a 19 years old, Vietnamese-American female. She is in her second year of pre-med school. Her family immigrant to USA before she was born. She lives with her mother, father, sister, and, her grandparents. They speak Vietnamese at home, and, she knows how to read, and, write Vietnamese. The client, and, her family practice Buddhism. She looked down, and, mumbled at first, but, she began to make short eye contact as the session progressed. She dressed well, she bites her finger nails frequency, and, unintentionally during sessions. The client refers to me by her college counselor.
Captain Rob Geis agreed to be interviewed and share his experiences with the next generation of Social Workers. Native to Ohio, he graduated High School in 1979, he continued his education at Ohio State University from 1982-1986, completing his Masters in Social Work. For the past 24 years, he has served as a Social Worker in the United States Army. In his current position he is responsible for the Department of Social Work Services. Previous positions have included: two assignments as a Division Social Worker, Medical Inpatient Social Worker, Chief of Social Work, Division Chief of Mental Health, Clinical Director of Army Substance Abuse Program, Combat Operation Stress Control Commander, and General Staff Officer (Geis, 2012). Academic positions have included both, the Army Long Term Health Education and Training (LTHET) as well as the Command and General Staff College.
I used rephrasing as a part of understanding the reason for the client’s visit and repeated the information in a way that we both could understand. The client was able to respond through the questions that I asked her in regards to her situation. I want to get a clear understanding without leaving out valuable information. In the three sessions my intentions were to make sure that what she gave me over the phone matches what she says in the interview. I made sure that when my client was speaking, I took notes on the new information or the information that was not covered in any of the previous sessions. Each session was based upon reflection because I had to make sure progress was being made or not. When my client began to discuss things in a way in which I could not understand, I was able to interpret the information in a way that she and I both understood and agreed upon. The moment an initial contact was made, I started giving my client information on informed consent forms, who I was and the number of years of my social work profession, policies and
Social work practitioners can use the information from this study to document activities that MSW graduates engaged in relevant to cultural competency. The study will provide current and future social workers with specific details and strategies that they can employ to assist them on their journey toward culturally competent practice. In addition, this research study will offer examples of what social workers can do to build their knowledge, skills, and values.