Culture, Ethnicity, and Spiritual Health

Culture is

• Group oriented

• Learned

• Dynamic

• Diverse

• Observable

Baby tossing

India: toddlers tossed off roof onto sheet ensures good health and prosperity

Phuket vegetarian festival

Thailand: puncture cheeks to be protected from harm by the gods

Living with the dead

Indonesia: live with dead loved ones

self-flagellation

self-torture, self-lashing, self-beating

female circumcision

the removal of a woman’s clitoris

• Africa, Middle East, Asia

• Infancy - 15 y/o

ethnocentrism

belief in the superiority of one’s culture

race

dividing people into group of physical characteristics

subculture

people within a culture that differentiate itself from larger culture

• eg. hippies, bikers, deaf culture, truck drivers

self-reflection to identify personal

• beliefs

• biases

• prejudices

transcultural nursing

study of nursing focusing on how behavior patterns, illness, and caring are influenced by beliefs/values

cultural things that impact patient care

• gender roles

• disease susceptibility

• food and nutrition preferences and needs

• spiritual & religious needs

• rxtn to pain

• orientation to space and time

• socioeconomic factors (poverty)

• personal care patterns

• folk/traditional healthcare

Spirituality

provides a sense of wholeness and harmony

• anything that pertains to a person’s relationship with a nonmateral life/power

religion

a subcategory of spirituality

faith

confident belief in something with no proof or material evidence

• ex: Judaism, Islam

atheist

person who denied God

agnostic

don’t know if there is a God or not

lifespan

• newborn: trust

• toddler: differentiate self and others

• school age: value acceptance

• young adults: separate from group

• adults/middle adults: broader world view

• older adults: smaller world view

factors affecting spirituality

• developmental considerations

• family

• ethnic background

• formal religion

• life events