Chapter 5 Transcultural Nursing in the Community

The Meaning of Culture Beliefs, values, and behavior shared by members of a society; they provide a design or roadmap for living “The acquired knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience” (Spradley & McCurdy, 2005) “A patterned behavioral response that develops over time as a result of imprinting the mind through social and religious structures and intellectual and artistic manifestations” (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002)

Other Key Terms Race: biologically designated groups of people whose distinguishing features, such as skin color, are inherited Ethnic group: collection of people who have common origins and a shared culture and identity; they may share a common geographic origin, race, language, religion, traditions, values, and food preferences (Spector, 2004) Ethnicity: group of qualities that mark his or her association with a particular ethnic group or “who share cultural and/or physical characteristics including one or more of the following: history, political system, religion, language, geographical origin, traditions, myths, behaviors, foods, genetic similarities, and physical features (Ethnicity Online, 2007)

Other Key Terms (cont.) Cultural diversity (cultural plurality): variety of cultural patterns coexisting within a designated geographic area Subcultures:relatively large aggregates of people within a society sharing separate distinguishing characteristics Microcultures: smaller groups within a subculture Ethnocentrism: belief or feeling that one’s own culture is best Ethnorelativism: seeing all behavior in a cultural context

Question Is the following statement true or false? “Race” and “ethnicity” are interchangeable terms.

Answer False Race refers to biologically designated groups of people whose distinguishing features are inherited. Ethnicity refers to a group of qualities that mark a person’s association with a particular ethnic group or a group that shares cultural and/or physical characteristics.

Characteristics of Culture Learned Integrated Shared Mostly tacit Dynamic

Ethnocultural Health Practices World community Biomedical view Magicoreligious view Holistic view Folk medicine and home remedies Herbalism Prescription and over-the-counter drugs

Ethnocultural Health Practices (cont.) Complementary therapies and self-care practices Diet therapies (cancer diets, juice diets, fasting) Gastrointestinal treatments (coffee enemas, high colonic enemas) Balance and exercise activities (t’ai chi, yoga) Sensory exposure (aromatherapy, music therapy, light therapy) Therapeutic manipulation (acupuncture, acupressure, reflexology)

Role of the Community Health Nurse Preparation Cultural awareness (see Display 5.3) Sensitivity Assessment (use of appropriate tools; see Tables 5.7 and 5.8) Teaching

Question Which of the following would describe a culture? Inherited Static Individualized Tacit

Answer d. Tacit Culture is learned, integrated, shared, mostly tacit, and dynamic.

Selected Cultural Communities Native American Indians, Aleut, and Eskimo communities Population characteristics and culture Health problems Health beliefs and practices Blacks or African Americans

Selected Cultural Communities (cont.) Asian Americans Population characteristics and culture Health problems Health beliefs and practices Hispanic Americans

Selected Cultural Communities (cont.) Arab populations and Muslims Population characteristics and culture Health problems Health beliefs and practices

Transcultural Nursing Principles Develop cultural self-awareness. Cultivate cultural sensitivity. Assess the client group’s culture. Show respect and patience while learning about other cultures. Examine culturally derived health practices.

Internet Resources Office of Minority Health: http://www.omhrc.gov/omhrc/ U.S. Census: http://www.census.gov Immigration Assistance Section: http://theodora.com Culture and Diversity Section: http://www.amsa.org Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org Multicultural Health Communication Service: http://www.mhcs.health.nsw.gov.au/ Asian & Pacific Health: http://www.aapcho.org

Question Is the following statement true or false? The first step of applying transcultural nursing principles is to cultivate cultural sensitivity.

Answer False The nurse should first develop cultural self- awareness and then cultivate cultural sensitivity.