Multicultural Health

Multicultural Health

Given the magnitude of health costs, both financial and in terms of human suffering, it is essential that preventive interventions be developed and/or enhanced. Nurses, physicians, and other helping professionals are in a good position, by virtue of their training, to add to such preventive efforts. Health is defined as a condition of physical, mental, and social well being and the absence of disease or other abnormal condition. It is not a static condition; constant change and adaptation to stress result in homeostasis (Mosby's Medical and Nursing Dictionary, 1994 p. 742). The fact that we can improve our health and extend our lives by changing our behaviors (i.e., eating well, exercising, not smoking, and reducing stress) supports the incorporation of health education, and prevention programs into a broad variety of settings.

The purpose of this paper is to give the status of multicultural health on several diseases, and to give factors that influence multicultural health. Rationale for studying different cultures will be given and recommendations will be given for future research.

The promotion of health has been primarily a White middle-class phenomenon (Gottlieb and Green, 1987). It is critical that minority groups are included in preventive care, particularly because racial/ethnic minority group members are likely to suffer from higher mortality and morbidity than are White Americans.

Although some differences in health status observed across groups can be directly attributed to characteristic lifestyles and habits of living, factors such as prejudice, fear, and stereotyping may further isolate certain groups

from mainstream care…. Treatment planning may be flawed through simply...

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