Culture and Ethnicity

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Culture and Ethnicity
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Concepts of Culture and Ethnicity

• Culture a set of values, beliefs traditions
  that are held by a specific social group and
  handed down from generation to generation
• Subculture made up of people with a distinct
  identity, but who have certain ethnic,
  occupational or physical characteristics that are
  found in the larger culture
• Dominant group the group within the culture
  that has the authority to control the value
  system.
• Minority group usually has some physical or
  cultural characteristic that identifies the
  people within it as different

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Ethnicity

• The sense of identification that a cultural group
  collectively has, largely based on the groups
  common heritage.
• Race Subculture of people characterized by
  specific characteristics.

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Culture

• Culture Assimilation
• AKA Cultural acculturation
• When minority groups living within the dominant
  group loose the cultural characteristics that
  make them different.
• Stereotyping involves assigning characteristics
  to a group of people without considering specific
  individuality.

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Culture

• Cultural Imposition the belief that everyone
  should conform to the majority belief system.
• Cultural conflict when one ridicules others
  beliefs and traditions in an effort to make his
  or her own values more secure

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Cultural and Ethnic Influences on Health Care

• Gender Roles It is important to know who is the
  dominant figure in a family
• Language and Communication Some clients may not
  be able to speak the English Language
• Orientation to Space and time personal space
• Food and Nutrition
• Socioeconomic

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Poverty

• The culture of poverty- the highest risk families
  are headed by one income single females, fixed
  income elderly and future generations of those
  living in poverty

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Characteristics

• Feelings of despair, resignation fatalism
• Day to day attitude toward life with no hope for
  the future
• Unemployment and need for financial or government
  aid
• Use of escape values such as alcohol and drugs
• Unstable family structure with abusiveness and
  abandonment
• Decline in self respect and retreat from community

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Effects of Poverty on Health Care

• Lack of affordable and adequate housing
• Crowded living conditions
• The sick usually experience more complication
• Recovery time is longer
• Less likely to regain their preillness level of
  functioning
• Lack of access to health care insurance

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Family Support

• Some cultures have large extended families and
  are unable to share private information with
  anyone outside the family.
• Some cultures have great respect for elderly and
  will not consider institutional care

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Physical and Mental Health

• Physiologic Characteristics
• Keloid formation overgrowth of connective
  tissue that occurs during healing process of
  injury, surgeryAfrican heritage
• Lactose intolerance 0 lack of lactase to break
  down lactose during digestion - Hispanic,
  African, Chinese, Thai.
• Sickle Cell Anemia sickle shaped red blood
  cells. Most common in African or Mediterranean
  ethnic background.

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Continued

• Tay Sacks Disease a gene for a hereditary
  disorder have very short life span Eastern
  European, Jewish descent.
• G6PD deficiency enzyme deficiency. Red blood
  cells have no cell membrane they are easily
  destroyed , which leads to anemia and increased
  billirubin levels. - 10 of African American
  population
• Thalassemia genetic disorder effecting the Hgb
  in RBC function. Mediterranean, Asian, and
  African origin.
• Sarcoidosis formation of multiple tubercles or
  nodules on various parts of the body - African
  American population.
• Gout An increase of uric acid in the blood
  -males especially from Puerto Rican or Filipino
  descent.

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Psychological Characteristics

• In most situations an individual will relate the
  behavior of another person to the individuals
  own familiar culture.
• It is important to remember that what may seem
  perfectly reasonable important to a client may
  seem ridiculous and irrelevant to a nurse. The
  reverse perception may also exist.

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Culture Shock

• Feelings an individual experiences when placed in
  a different and often strange culture and may
  result in psychological discomfort or
  disturbances.

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Cultural Imposition and Ethnocentrism

• Cultural Imposition. the tendency for health
  personnel to impose their beliefs practices and
  values of other cultures, because they believe
  that their ideas are superior.
• Ethnocentrism the belief that ones own ideas,
  beliefs and practices are the best and superior.

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Providing Transcultural Care

• Major Theme Focus on caring practices of
  various cultures
• Nursing Role Understand the clients needs and
  to adapt care to meet those needs.

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Cultural Assessment

• Identify factors that effect behavior by cultural
  assessment
• Values, religion, dietary practices, family lines
  of authority, family life patterns and beliefs
  and practices related to health and illness
• See guidelines on pp 47-52
• See table 3-1 on page 46-50

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Reaction to Pain

• Reactions are culturally prescribed
• .. Lets discuss

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Different Health Practices

• Folk Healers
• less expensive, more accessible and more
  understanding of cultural needs . Speak the
  clients language
• Traditional Folk Medicine
• Herbs

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Transcultural Nursing

• Nursing care planned and implemented in a way
  that is sensitive to the needs of individuals,
  families, and groups representing diverse
  cultural populations.
• The culture of health care Assess
• the cultural background
• expectations and beliefs about healthcare
• Cultural context of the encounter
• Degree of agreement between the 2 persons set of
  beliefs and values