Heritage Assessment

Heritage Assessment NRS-429V | Culture and Cultural Competency in Health Promotion John Thomas 3/24/13 The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002).This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world.Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts that is used by personnel in management or care-providing positions in order to gain a better familiarity of a patient/client’s values before providing care (Spector, 2002).These can include questions about everything from their childhood experiences to varying health practices carried out in their homes. These all contribute in helping the nurse/caregiver to be culturally sensitive and utilize the questionnaire to provide quality care to the patient without unknowingly overstepping any boundaries. The Indian family I observed and talked to was my own. Growing up in India had a huge impact on my life and the choices I still make today. Upon working out the Heritage Assessment tool, I found that I still hold deeply rooted ties to my homeland and that I have tried to raise my children in the ame way. Though lifestyles are completely different when comparing the person living actually in India to the individual with an Indian background, a plethora of factors pertaining to health still carry over. Indian families tend to eat foods that are heavy with spices and capsaicin. Studies have shown that these have a number of health benefits including weight loss. When looking into some of the decisions that my family has made that seem to stand out from my friends of different background, diet and religion seem to stand out the most.Indian families are acutely aware of balance and moderation and this can be seen in the average meal. Religion is also a key factor in heal th protection. I have found that families will turn to God to keep their loved ones safe. Being from an Indian Catholic family, I am painfully aware this can also have its down side. For example, Catholicism discourages the use of contraceptives. This is a serious issue when understanding how this affects the growth of the AIDS epidemic not only among Indians but the rest of the world.In terms of restoration, there are more herbal remedies and natural medicines involved than antibiotics and pills. My wife still makes an array of teas and extracts for our children before resorting to taking them to a doctor. The Arabic family I talked to had a surprising number of parallels to my own. They were also driven by religion when it came to health protection. An illness was often considered to be unlucky and a curse from Allah for your sins. The diet high in spices and vegetables seemed a reasonable method of health maintenance.The values of the Arabic values were much stricter than the oth er families I talked to. An incident comes to mind of when it is very important to keep the values and traditions of the patient in mind. A Muslim woman was pregnant and nearing her due date. When it came time for her delivery, the only available Gynecologist was male and went through with the standard procedure and she delivered a healthy baby boy. The woman however, was shunned from her community because the doctor was a man who was not her husband.Situations such as these are important to keep in mind when providing care to patients. The Arabic family also was more open to natural medicine and homeopathic medicine and sought to find a way to cure themselves before seeking outside help at a medical facility. Lastly, the Caucasian family that were my neighbors seemed the most different from the families that I had talked to but the most open and attentive to the world around them. Though their diet was not the best, they seemed more inclined towards exercise and consumption of vita mins to maintain their health and protection of their health.They were also much better about keeping up with regular doctors’ visits and checkups and opted for more immunizations and vaccinations. They seemed more up to date and modernized in all aspects of health. They were also more trusting of modern medicines and prescriptions. They heavily relied on the healthcare system for health restoration even for the simplest medical issues. In conclusion, all three ethnicities have varying lifestyles that contribute to their current status of health. It is important to keep in mind that this is not an accurate report of that general culture.Rather it is an extremely small sample that I found to compare to other families in a somewhat suburban town. I found it very interesting that even with drastically different beliefs and values, all three cultures seemed to value their immensely, even though each had their own traditions and methods so as to preserve that state of health. From the stories and experiences I have heard in talking with these people, I believe it is more imperative than ever that nurses direct more attention to the usefulness of the Heritage Assessment tool.References Purnell, L. (2002). The Purnell model for cultural competence. Journal of transcultural nursing,  13(3), 193-196. Shen, Z. (2004). Cultural competence models in nursing. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  15(4), 317-322. Spector, R. E. (2002). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  13(3), 197-199. Spector, R. E. (2004). Culture care: guide to heritage assessment and health traditions. Prentice Hall. Heritage Assessment Heritage Assessment Cultural competency is an essential part of nursing. Catering to the population of the United States as a nurse, one must embrace the cultures of others to provide competent care that will address the needs of the patient in a holistic manner. Beliefs of health management and care differ for all cultures. Being familiar with all backgrounds and cultures is a key factor in providing culturally appropriate care for patients. Illness and the care for illness and disease is viewed differently from culture to culture.The ability to understand and respect the differences among all cultures needs to be utilized by all healthcare providers. Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect the approaches to health care. Culture also influences how people seek health care and how they behave toward health care providers (Cultural Diversity, 2012). As health care providers we must learn how to take the proper steps in assessing cultural backgrounds of patients.Asking the appropriate questions can help create a treatment plan that will provide quality care that tends to the patients cultural beliefs as well. In assessment of three cultures: Filipino, Chinese, and Asian-Indians although they share similar views on health care they also have some differences as well. Health beliefs of the Chinese culture are centered on harmony and how to achieve it. Influences of this harmony involved, Yin/Yang, Relationship of elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, water, Psychosomatic Integration, Buddhism, and Taoism.In all the listed influences balance is the key factor that they share. Knowledge of historical experiences of Filipino cohort groups may provide health care providers with additional insights into an older person and the family members’ responses to clinical encounters and the recommended plan of care (McBride, 1996). Indigenous health beliefs of the Filipino culture like the Chinese culture centered on balance. The Filipino people call it â€Å"timbang† which is translated into balance. The belief that a rapid shift from hot to cold will end in illness for the individual, thus causing the body to be imbalanced.For Asian-Indians Hinduism is a social system as well as a religion; therefore customs and practices are closely interwoven. â€Å"Karma† is a law of behavior and consequences in which actions of past life affects the circumstances in which one is born and lives in this life. Despite complete understanding of biological causes of illness, it is often believed that the illness is caused by â€Å"Karma† (Alagiakrishnan, 1996). They believe that the body was connected and looked at as a whole. Mind, body and spirit are one and health is highly tied to all factors of the whole being.Asian- Indians also believe in balance that needs to be attained mentally, physically and spiritually to achieve balance within the entire being. Health prote ction for the Chinese culture derives from traditional Chinese treatments such as acupuncture to help realign the energy of the body, herbology to protect the body from illness or to get rid of the illness in the body and correct the â€Å"chi† within the individual. The most common is the use of yin/yang. Some Chinese elders will avoid food that can be considered cold food because of fear that it will throw their body off balance and diminish the harmony.Meditation and prayer is a form a protection used by the Filipino, Chinese and Asian-Indian Culture. Meditation is most often seen in Chinese and Asian-Indian culture than the Filipino cultures. Religion plays a huge role in cultural beliefs in health protection. Although all cultures believe in different forms of a higher being or power, nonetheless traditional elders of the cultures seek faith as a form of protection from illness and disease. Health restoration among the Filipino, Chinese and Asian-Indian cultures share th e similarity of balance.Just like the focus of health promotion, restoration is also centered around a form of balance, depending on the culture that is being addressed. The Chinese culture use methods of yin/yang and cupping with the use of heated bamboo cups to reduce stress of the mind and body. The Filipino culture uses â€Å"heating† which acts as a balancing tool to achieve harmony. Filipino cultures uses healers to aid in removing illness from the body through methods of herbs, prayer and rituals. The Asian- Indian culture also uses elder healers to restore health back into the body.Since the cultures being compared are all of Asian descent. The cultures show significant similarities as far as the goals they are trying to achieve: promote, maintain and restore health to the body. The balance of all aspects of the body showed grave importance in all cultures. The methods however are different in the sense of rituals that are preformed, the Gods that are prayed to for pr otection, and the types of herbs that are used to create medicine. The ancient and traditional methods mentioned are practiced and exercised more by the elder generations of the cultures.As more generations are being born here in the United States it seems as if the rituals and methods of healthcare are becoming fused with western medicine as well. Incorporating was has been passed down from generation to generation as well as things learned from physicians and nurses here, the younger generation of the cultures somewhat pick and choose cultural practices and methods that they feel would best suit the issue that is being experienced. In a situation such as a minor cold is starting to become an issue, the families will use traditional methods such as hot teas, soups or broths to restore the balance.On the other hand if the issue is too great to be just treated on a traditional level, they will seek medical attention and take the proper medicine to get better. The Conclusion Although the genetic makeups of all the cultures are distinctly different, all the cultures still share similar ties in tradition. The Filipino and Chinese culture share more similarities but knowing the history of the two countries one can see that the Filipino people was taken over by the Chinese for sometime. Thus, their influences are seen in many traditions of the Filipino culture. ReferencesMelen McBride, RN, PhD (1996). HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF FILIPINO AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/filipino. html. [Last Accessed 22 February 13]. Linda Ann S. H. Tom, M. D. (1996). Health and Health Care for CHINESE-AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/chinese. html. [Last Accessed 22 Februray 13]. Kannayiram Alagiakrishnan, M. D. (1996). HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF ASIAN INDIAN AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/asianindian. html. [Last Accessed 22 Februray 13]. Heritage Assessment Heritage Assessment NRS-429V | Culture and Cultural Competency in Health Promotion John Thomas 3/24/13 The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002).This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world.Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts that is used by personnel in management or care-providing positions in order to gain a better familiarity of a patient/client’s values before providing care (Spector, 2002).These can include questions about everything from their childhood experiences to varying health practices carried out in their homes. These all contribute in helping the nurse/caregiver to be culturally sensitive and utilize the questionnaire to provide quality care to the patient without unknowingly overstepping any boundaries. The Indian family I observed and talked to was my own. Growing up in India had a huge impact on my life and the choices I still make today. Upon working out the Heritage Assessment tool, I found that I still hold deeply rooted ties to my homeland and that I have tried to raise my children in the ame way. Though lifestyles are completely different when comparing the person living actually in India to the individual with an Indian background, a plethora of factors pertaining to health still carry over. Indian families tend to eat foods that are heavy with spices and capsaicin. Studies have shown that these have a number of health benefits including weight loss. When looking into some of the decisions that my family has made that seem to stand out from my friends of different background, diet and religion seem to stand out the most.Indian families are acutely aware of balance and moderation and this can be seen in the average meal. Religion is also a key factor in heal th protection. I have found that families will turn to God to keep their loved ones safe. Being from an Indian Catholic family, I am painfully aware this can also have its down side. For example, Catholicism discourages the use of contraceptives. This is a serious issue when understanding how this affects the growth of the AIDS epidemic not only among Indians but the rest of the world.In terms of restoration, there are more herbal remedies and natural medicines involved than antibiotics and pills. My wife still makes an array of teas and extracts for our children before resorting to taking them to a doctor. The Arabic family I talked to had a surprising number of parallels to my own. They were also driven by religion when it came to health protection. An illness was often considered to be unlucky and a curse from Allah for your sins. The diet high in spices and vegetables seemed a reasonable method of health maintenance.The values of the Arabic values were much stricter than the oth er families I talked to. An incident comes to mind of when it is very important to keep the values and traditions of the patient in mind. A Muslim woman was pregnant and nearing her due date. When it came time for her delivery, the only available Gynecologist was male and went through with the standard procedure and she delivered a healthy baby boy. The woman however, was shunned from her community because the doctor was a man who was not her husband.Situations such as these are important to keep in mind when providing care to patients. The Arabic family also was more open to natural medicine and homeopathic medicine and sought to find a way to cure themselves before seeking outside help at a medical facility. Lastly, the Caucasian family that were my neighbors seemed the most different from the families that I had talked to but the most open and attentive to the world around them. Though their diet was not the best, they seemed more inclined towards exercise and consumption of vita mins to maintain their health and protection of their health.They were also much better about keeping up with regular doctors’ visits and checkups and opted for more immunizations and vaccinations. They seemed more up to date and modernized in all aspects of health. They were also more trusting of modern medicines and prescriptions. They heavily relied on the healthcare system for health restoration even for the simplest medical issues. In conclusion, all three ethnicities have varying lifestyles that contribute to their current status of health. It is important to keep in mind that this is not an accurate report of that general culture.Rather it is an extremely small sample that I found to compare to other families in a somewhat suburban town. I found it very interesting that even with drastically different beliefs and values, all three cultures seemed to value their immensely, even though each had their own traditions and methods so as to preserve that state of health. From the stories and experiences I have heard in talking with these people, I believe it is more imperative than ever that nurses direct more attention to the usefulness of the Heritage Assessment tool.References Purnell, L. (2002). The Purnell model for cultural competence. Journal of transcultural nursing,  13(3), 193-196. Shen, Z. (2004). Cultural competence models in nursing. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  15(4), 317-322. Spector, R. E. (2002). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  13(3), 197-199. Spector, R. E. (2004). Culture care: guide to heritage assessment and health traditions. Prentice Hall.