Culture and Its Effect on Health Consciousness Essay Assignment Paper
Culture and Its Effect on Health Consciousness Essay Assignment Paper
It is a fact that healthcare professionals attend to people who they are separated from by culture. This implies that the way services are offered has to vary from one patient to another to accommodate all cultures. This is so because culture has an immense impact on health consciousness. Different cultures hold different perception about health thus; consciousness levels vary from one place to another. Culture is defined as a set of beliefs, values, practices, attitudes, and or aims that describe a particular group of people (Hollins, 2009, p. 2). This means that culture is extremely much diverse, thus; difficult to define using all that it entrenches. Cultural diversity is characterized by phenomenon such as religion, ethnicity, and politics among others. Therefore, culture has a significant effect on health consciousness. This paper seeks to evaluate the effects culture has on health consciousness and what is being done to seal the resulting gaps.
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Culture Effects on Health Consciousness
Traditional folk healing is a phenomenon that has an enormous impact on health consciousness. This is characterized by religious and spiritual beliefs held by a group of people towards health. Studies have revealed that traditional folk healing affects health consciousness mostly in Hispanic communities, in both South and North America (Arizona State University, 2011). These people have certain cultural inclinations, which dictate that, diseases are because of God’s will, and they have nothing to reverse the situation. This belief hinders them from knowing the true disease mechanism such as the role of pathogens in diseases. The belief makes them turn to natural healer who they believe has the supernatural ability to facilitate their healing. Otherwise, attempting to use any other methods is believed to be futile. The cultural distrust in conventional medicine keeps such group away from modern healthcare facilities. Instead, they opt for traditional folk medicine because it is culturally acceptable.
Different cultures will affect the way some people will react and respond to illness and treatment. According to Hollins (2009, p. 6), some cultures have made people believe that illness is because of lousy luck or even a supernatural calamity. Just as those who opt for folk medicine, illness and health are believed to have a spiritual dimension. Therefore, before sick individuals seek medication, they have to consult the natural healing powers. Several attempts to close on such beliefs are underway in many parts of the globe. Healthcare providers have instead chosen to go down to such beliefs and are giving patients opportunities to practice what they believe. However, close medical attention is brought alongside, thus; win the hearts of such patients who eventually agree to receive conventional medical attention.
Apart from spiritual beliefs, culture introduces a number of barriers to health consciousness. One of such barriers is language. People who speak languages different from those of healthcare providers are less conscious of their health status and vice versa. For instance, nearly 14% of American citizens speak other language other than English (Bussey-Jones and Inginia 733). Physicians have reported difficulties in attending to people from these groups because they seem less informed about various health issues. Language barrier is the most probable cause of this since it isolates such people from others courtesy of avoiding miscomprehension. The use of translators is the only method that is being used in mitigating the effects from this barrier. This process is expensive and time wasting, but is has to be applied if people from the diverse cultural backgrounds are to be served (Perez-Stable and Napoles, 2004, p. 509).
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