Cultural Assesment

Characteristics of Culture

1. Learned from birth

2. Shared by members

3. Adapted to environmental/natural resources

4. Dynamic (ever-changing)

What is Culture?

Attitude

Belief

Norms

Roles

Communication

Heritage Consistency

Assessing how one’s lifestyle and behaviors reflect their cultural heritage

Ethnicity

A social group with shared traits such as:

• geographic origin

• migratory status

• religion

• language

• values

• traditions

• food preferences

How Religion Affects Care

• Spirituality can be a sense of consolation/relief

• Beliefs/leaders can affect decisions - ex: vaccinations/blood transfusions

Beliefs About Causes of Illness

• Biomedical

• Naturalistic

• Magicoreligious

Biomedical - Scientific

All events in life have a cause and effect. Example: germs cause certain conditions, which come with a set of effects.

Naturalistic

Explains the illness from a holistic perspective - where forces of nature must be kept in balance.

• Yin/Yang Theory

• Hot/Cold Theory

Yin/Yang

Health exists when all aspects of individual are balanced -

• Yin = female, negative forces

• Yang = male, positive forces

(chinese/east asian)

Hot/Cold Theory

Treatment consists of adding or subtracting heat, cold, wetness and dryness to the 4 humors;

• blood

• phlegm

• black bile

• yellow bile

HOT AND COLD MEANS PERCIEVED EFFECT ON BODY - NOT ACTUAL CHARACTERISTIC

(hispanic, arab, asian)

Magicoreligious

Supernatural or Spiritual Causes of illness - ex: voodoo

Discrimination in Healthcare

Race

Ethnicity

Lack of Access to Care

Language Barriers

Cultural Assessment - 9

• Heritage

• Health Practices

• Communication

• Family roles/orientation

• Nutrition

• Pregnancy/child-birth

• Religion

• Death

• Health providers

Acculturation

Process of adopting culture from majority culture