Heritage Assessment
Hello, Please 3 cultures compare paper. Please include Spanish, American, Indian Cultures Heritage Assessment access Heritage Assessment Tool.
A questionnaire design that is used to assess a person’s culture, religion, and ethnic so as to understand the person in relation to illnesses, diseases and their general health is what is referred to as the Heritage Assessment Tool Cohn et al., 2010
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As unique as ones fingerprint is, so is their heritage in some cultures. Everyone has their own unique heritage and this heritage is very different from the heritage of another culture, a person’s heritage is what determines their religious, cultural and ethnic background. It is also what deals with the person’s mental, physical and their spiritual beliefs and this will be used when maintaining the person’s health, protecting and restoring their health. It is important to note that in the healthcare field knowledge of a person’s heritage is very important as it helps the providers to understand how the person has been brought up their traditions and if they have used any traditional health approaches in the maintenance of their health status. These heritage assessments would also help people to remember things that occurred in their childhood.
The heritage assessment tool will assist individuals to understand their cultures, beliefs and traditions, heritage assessment is very important and it aims at understanding and building people’s cultural competencies. It recognizes the diversity of people’s cultures towards health care and also their linguistic. Culture, heritage, language and beliefs have a direct impact on the healthcare provider and the patient as this information would assist the healthcare provider to know how best to handle the patient’s illness and also understand what is permissible in the patient’s culture and beliefs.
It is very important that healthcare providers understand the different cultures that are found in the United States especially considering the fact that the country’s population is large and the population is culturally mixed up.
Indian Culture
The Indian customs, practices and beliefs in health are very specific to the region a person comes from and also very diverse. Indians believe that wealth and health are related to one’s body, mind and soul. There are certain illnesses that may never be reported especially mental cases, and this is due to the above belief. There are a variety of found in the Indian culture including Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Acupressure and Acupuncture. Ayurveda is concerned with the well being of soul, mind and body, this is achieved through an established and daily routine of life it involves yoga and rejuvenating activities.
In the Indian culture most of them believe that herbal medicine is the best and would hasten a person’s healing process Kasten, 1992.
India has modern and well equipped healthcare institutions both in the private and public sector, majority of the people in India are poor thus they and they do not have the capability of paying the high fees that are charged by the private or public healthcare institutions and this has forced them to rely heavily on their herbal medicines and they take them regularly as they understand it is better to prevent a disease than to cure it with continuous use of the herbs they are preventing more serious diseases. Indian men have more authority and power than women in the society and also family level, most Indians would not be comfortable been treated by a doctor who is of another sex (Male or Female).
Spanish Culture
The Hispanics are mostly emotionally expressive people, they also like been pampered when they are unwell and this is how the family members show their concern and love for their sick ones. The present generations are not so concerned with preventive healthcare and are also not so good at keeping their appointments or they may decide to show much later. Majority of them are Catholics and they do not prescribe to any form of birth control they mostly rely on the rhythm method. In the Latin culture they consider been thin as a sign of sickness or a person has a problem and the full and plum people are the most ideal, as a healthcare provider this information is very important as one would know that prescribing weight loss drug to them would not be acceptable and also advising them to use birth control would definitely not be entertained at all because of their religious beliefs Roland, Johnson, Bruce, & Khuon, 2007()
Hispanics prefer treating themselves using herbal medications or homemade remedies of which the Hispanics have a large variety of for almost any ailment that they may have and they will only seek professional medical treatment when it is too late. Apart from the homemade remedies they also believe in spiritual intervention.
American Culture
Americans believe and trust modern medications and it is their culture that any slight ailment they have to visit a doctor. Majority of them have scheduled medical check-ups annually and they also have dental and . Many American parents will ensure that their children receive all the necessary immunizations on time. Though they may not be going to church that often many Americans believe in God and they are mostly Christians, when things do not go well for them or they receive some good news majority of them will offer a quick prayer to say thank you. Their eating habits are way off as most them prefer eating from fast food restaurants and the foods served in the restaurants have too much fat which is not good for one’s health.
With the three cultures that have been examined above one thing does come up and that is they all believe in been healthy, how they go about in making sure they maintain a healthy life and they do not suffer from sicknesses is what differs in the three communities. It is only the American who have fully embraced the modern medication methods, the other two though they will result to modern medication they will only do so when all their traditional methods have failed and this is mostly fatal as the disease is already too critical to be treated. Even with the penetration of education amongst the different cultures they still believe in their cultures and their methods first before they can seek further help.
Healthcare providers need to learn and understand the various cultures and beliefs so that they can be prepared for any case that they may face when dealing with patients from the various cultures considering that the country has very many people all from different culture and having diverse beliefs. For a high quality and safe provision of healthcare services the providers should understand and accept that they are dealing with different cultures Miller, 2000.
Motivation must also be provided so as to encourage the healthcare providers to learn the cultures of the people in their communities so as this knowledge will help them to in provision of culturally relevant treatment and care.
References
Cohn, W.F., Ropka, M.E., Pelletier, S.L., Barrett, J.R., Kinzie, M.B., Harrison, M.B., . . . Knaus, W.A. (2010). Health Heritage, a for the Collection and Assessment of Family Health History: Initial User Experience and Analytic Validity. [Article]. Public Health Genomics, 13(7/8), 477-491. doi: 10.1159/000294415
Kasten, W.C. (1992). Bridging the Horizon: American Indian Beliefs and Whole Language Learning. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 23(2), 108-119.
Miller, J. (2000). Keeping With the Transcultural Nursing Society Mission. [Article]. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 11(3), 230.
Roland, F., Johnson, I., Bruce, E., & Khuon, K.-N. (2007). Living with Heritage: Site Monitoring and Heritage Values in Greater Angkor and the Angkor World Heritage Site, Cambodia. World Archaeology, 39(3), 385-405.