Introductions of Cultural Variations in Health Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Higher Education Prince Sattam University College of Nursing 1438 H Introductions of Cultural Variations in Health Dr Marietta Mercado Email : marietta.mercado@yahoo.com

Objectives: By the end of this lecture, the student will be able to: Define the concept of culture. Identify the main concept related to culture. Discuses the components of culture and provide examples for each of them. Analyze how culture components interrelated. 
 Discuses the characteristic of culture.

Introduction We live a society that is made up of widely diverse groups of people. The group include people of different ethnic. The number of culture groups within the population continues to increase.

Introduction Culture is an integral component of both health and illness. Nurses must be sensitive to the culture needed, characteristics ,and values of individual ,families and groups.

Culture: Broadly defines set of values, norms, beliefs and traditions, that are held by a specific group of people and learned, shared and transmitted from generation to generation

Main Concepts related to culture: Society The community, nation, or broad grouping of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations Cultural Sensitivity The ability to be open to learning about and accepting of different cultural groups.

Main Concepts related to culture: Culture – universals Commonalities of values, norms of behavior, and life patterns that are similar among different cultures Culture – specifies Values, beliefs, and patterns of behavior that tend to be unique to a designate culture.

Main Concepts related to culture: Material culture Refers to objects (dress, art, religious). Non-material culture Refers to beliefs, customs, languages, and social institutions.

Main Concepts related to culture: Trans culture nursing The study of the life ways and patterns of persons of various cultures including their healthcare practices and nursing’s role in that culture. Cross Cultural Nursing The study of the life ways and patterns of persons of various cultures from an anthropological perspective that is being applied to nursing

Main Concepts related to culture: Cultural Identity The sense of being part of an ethnic group or culture. Subculture Composed of people who have a distinct identity but are related to a larger cultural group.

Main Concepts related to culture: Cultural shock Is defined as a psychological disorientation that most people experience when living in a culture markedly different from one’s own.

In Saudi Arabia???

Importance of Culture: Culture provides us with: A sense of belonging A sense of identity A feeling of cohesiveness A sense of connectedness to those who came before and to those who will come after.

Culture Component: Symbols Language Valuse and Belief Norms Material culture

1-Symbols: Are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture. The meaning of the same symbols varies from society to society, within a single society, and over time.

2-Language: Is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another. It can be either written or spoken or both Language is the key to cultural transmission, the process by which one generation passes culture to the next. Through most of human history, cultural transmission has been accomplished through oral tradition.

3-Valuse and Belief: Are culturally defined standards by which people judge desirability, goodness and beauty, and which serve as broad guidelines for social living Values are broad principles that underlie beliefs, specific statements that people hold to be true. Belief define as Specific statements that people to be true, example:(relationship between god and human)

4- Norms: Norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. It is standards that define the obligatory and expected behaviors of people in various situations.

Types of Norms Mores Laws Folkways Rituals

Types of Norms M: (They are customary behavior patterns or folkways which have taken on a moralistic value.) Manner, and habit Laws: (Laws are the mores deemed so vital to dominant interests that they become translated into legal formations that even nonmembers of society are required to obey.)

Types of Norms Folkways: (These are behavior patterns of society which are organized and repetitive, commonly known as customs.) Rituals: (These are highly scripted ceremonies or strips of interaction that follow a specific sequence of actions.) a series of actions or type of behavior regularly followed by someone.

5- Material culture Human make objects, sometimes for practical reasons, and sometimes for artistic ones. The form and function of these objects is an expression of culture and culturally defines behavior often depends on the presence of specific objects. We call such objects material culture.

Factors barrier to the culture component: 1-Traditions of handling personal problem that don’t fit this particular problem, ex: herbal meds, using of honey in treating DM. 2-Beliefs about the causes of disorder and the appropriate healer for it, ex: doctor, nurse.

Factors barrier to the culture component: 3-Lack of knowledge about a physical or emotional disorder and the formal place to preventing and treating the condition, ex: paying for emergency care rather than spending money on health promotion or primary prevention. 4-Language barrier.

Factors barrier to the culture component: 5-Difficulty in maintaining confidentiality. 6- Misinterpretation of behavior associated with space orientation. 7-Previous experience (negative) with health care system and providers.

Characteristics of culture: (1) Culture is an adaptive mechanism (2) Culture is learned (3) Culture is change (Dynamic) (4) Culture is multifaceted

Characteristics of culture: (5) People Usually are not Aware of their culture (6) We do not know All of Our Own culture (7) Culture Give Us a Range of Permissible Behavior Patterns (8) Cultures No Longer Exist in Isolation

Purposes of Knowing the Patient Culture for health care personal:

Cultural background basic human needs. To heighten awareness of ways in which their own faith system. To foster understanding, respect and appreciation for the individuality and diversity of patient. To strengthen in their commitment to relationship-centered medicine To encourage in developing and maintaining a program of physical, emotional and spiritual self-care introduce therapies.

Doing Surface Culture 10% Thinking Deep Culture 90% Feeling

Surface Culture 10% Deep Culture 90% Behaviors Doing Traditions Customs Doing Core values Beliefs Priorities Attitudes Assumptions Perceptions Thinking Deep Culture 90% Feeling

Easy to observe with vision, touch, taste, smell, sound, Surface Culture 10% Easy to observe with vision, touch, taste, smell, sound, Ways of life Laws and customs Institutions Methods and Techniques Rituals Language Art Dance Food Dress/clothingLanguage Greetings Music Doing World view Religious beliefs Authority Decision-making models Gender roles Ideas about leadership Concepts of justice Concepts of time Power Personal space Body language Communication Friendship Designation of status based on positions (e.g.,age, gender, job) Norms Roles Ideologies Beliefs Philosophy Thinking Values Tastes Attitudes Desires Assumptions Expectations Myths Feeling Deep Culture 90% Difficult to observe

Next lecture,,, The influence of culture on health beliefs on health care practice Culture shock Culture refers to the beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that, together, form a people's way of life. Culture determines how we view the world around us Culture includes the traditions we inherit and pass on to the next generation Culture: totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior

Reference: 1-Boyle, JS: The practice of trans cultural nursing, Trans cultural Nursing Morgenstern, J: Rites of birth, marriage, death, and kindred occasions. 2-Talor C, Lillis C&Lemone P.(1997)Culture and ethnicity. Fundamentals of nursing the art and science of nursing( 3rd ed).(pp.33-46) Lippincott Williams &wilkins, United states of America