Chapter 10: Human Diversity - Study Notes

What is human diversity?

  • Differences among people.

Why is it important to understand Human Diversity in Healthcare?

  • United States is multicultural
  • Education = unbiased (more facts, less opinion)
  • Serve patients better through understanding and communication

Diversity Characteristics

  • Age
  • Ethnicity
  • Race
  • Gender and Sexual Orientation
  • Mental and Physical ability
  • Religion

AGE Generations

  • Baby Boomers 1946-1964
  • Gen X 1965-1980
  • Gen Y (Millennial) 1981-1999
  • Gen Z 2000-present
  • Respect differences: Asian view elders as important members who helped build their culture; European/Western may differ, sometimes viewing elderly as a burden

AGING BABY BOOMERS

  • 75{,}000{,}000 Baby Boomers born; by 2006 - first ones turned 60
  • From 1900 to 2000, 85+yo increased in population by a factor of 26\text{ times}
  • Generally healthy and will live longer than previous generations
  • 2010 = 53{,}000+ Americans aged 100 and older
  • 1{,}000{,}000 expected to live to 100+ age
  • BIASES (prejudice thinking) TO OVERCOME:
    • Value youth over age
    • Aging undesirable
    • Seniors having little value on contributions to society
    • Seniors to be mentally inferior

BABY BOOMERS

  • Fastest growing segment of the population
  • Generally healthy and well educated
  • Projections show more than 1{,}000{,}000 will live to 100 or more

Ethnicity, National Origin, and Race

  • Many individuals came to America from all nations, religions, etc.
  • Early Settlers came to America to make it their home
  • Many cultures reside in the US
  • Hispanic growth fastest; US will become even more diverse in future
  • Understand and ACCEPT diversity as growing importance
  • Ethnocentrism: viewing one’s own culture as the only “acceptable” one
  • Racism: belief that one race/culture is superior and discriminate/see other races as inferior
  • Assimilation: process by which a person over time identifies strongly with another culture, “merging in”
  • Biculturalism: having 2 or more cultures (Mainstream and own)

Language/Cultural Barriers

  • People can best live/work together with the greatest outcomes if they value the contributions and cultures of others and live as one race—THE HUMAN RACE
  • Cultures may have different:
    • Core Values
    • Languages

Language/Cultural Barriers (continued)

  • Diverse Population = diverse language
  • Communication with other cultures can cause confusion, stress and decreased patient outcomes:
    • Rights of patients unclear
    • Delivery of care possibly compromised
    • Simple questions or commands difficult
    • Patient left feeling uninformed

Gender & Sexual Orientation

  • Female vs Male
    • Glass Ceiling
    • Weaker Sex
  • Roles growing up:
    • Activities
    • Toys
    • Gender stereotyping
  • Sexual orientation: Hetero, Homo, Bi
  • 2016–2017: same-sex marriage legal

Mental/Physical Ability

  • People with decreased physical or mental capacity shunned by society
  • 10\% of world’s population have some type of disability
  • Last 30 years changes with ADA - protection for accessibility/equality by law

4 Core Values of Human Rights Law

  • Autonomy: Provide respect and require the individual to be the ultimate consideration and center of all decisions that affect them
  • Dignity: Support the person regardless of their ability
  • Equality: Fair treatment to everyone regardless of disability
  • Solidarity: Society showing support

Religion

  • North America is the most religiously diverse culture to ever appear
  • Some have strong beliefs that their religion is the correct one and try to persuade others to change
  • Cultural diversity reminds us to embrace religious beliefs
  • Radiology associates must be sensitive to all religions

Developing & Embracing Cultural Diversity

  • All cultures have contributed to society
  • Living/working in diverse society is challenging
  • Cultural education is important
  • Policies/practices must be set in place

Developing & Embracing Cultural Diversity (continued)

  • Definition of cultural competency: processing of a set of attitudes, congruent behaviors, and policies that enable effective interactions in a multicultural environment
  • In healthcare providers must not have any bias of any type in order to provide high quality care

ARRT and 6 areas of Human Cultural Diversity

  • ARRT (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists) provides members with the “Standard of Ethics” guidelines. See Appendix D in book
  • All patients regardless of who they are all deserve the same treatment
  • 6 areas of Human Cultural Diversity that can impact a patient’s experience in healthcare:
    • Communication
    • Space
    • Time
    • Environmental Control
    • Biologic Variations
    • Social Organizations