How does the culture of your family differ from American Anglo-Saxon people?
Check all that apply.
- We eat different foods – they do not like the spices that I like to use on my foods.
- Our musical tastes differ.
- Our forms of worship are similar.
- Our forms of worship are different.
- The things they value differ from the things I value.
- They do not value their elders.
- We both value our elders.
- They do not value their children like I do.
- They do not see the opportunities I see in America, they take a lot for granted.
Yesterday I met a New Yorker at the Metro Station. Like all New Yorkers I have met, he was moving fast. He walked to the U Street Station after getting up and going to the gym to exercise, although he was rail thin. Instead of eating a full breakfast, he told he had a granola bar and tea and ran out of the house without saying goodbye to his kids and wife. This man constantly complained about the train running late because he had an appointment and wanted to get there 15 minutes early, before the person he was meeting so he could have an advantage in their negotiations. How is the New Yorker different from you?
- I do not get up to exercise in the morning.
- I get up and pray each morning before I leave home.
- I do not eat breakfast.
- I eat a full, hot breakfast before I leave home.
- I eat all of my meals with my family whenever possible.
- I say grace before I eat.
- I like being on time, but if the Metro is late I cannot control that so I won’t worry.
- If it is a group meeting, I can slip in the back and my colleague will not know if I am late.
- I think I get enough exercise just working, I do not need to go to the gym.
- He never said hello or greeted me, he just stood there complaining about the late train.
There are no right or wrong answers on the pre-test, but it is designed to get you to think about the differences in culture in the people you may meet.
CULTURAL AWARENESS IN CARE GIVING
WHAT IS CULTURE?
Culture is a way of life of a group of people–the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture. “It shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth,” Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London.
WHAT IS CULTURAL AWARENESS?
Cultural awareness is the ability to recognize the different beliefs, values and customs that someone has based on that person’s origins, and it allows a person to build more successful personal and professional relationships in a diverse environment.
WHAT IS YOUR CULTURE?
- Your food and the smell
- Your dressing
- Your cologne or perfume
- Your religion…praying
- Your preconceived notions of people from other cultures
- Your make up and nails.
- Talking on the phone and phone etiquette
- Talking about your family
- Making eye contact
- Personal space
WHAT IS CULTURAL DIVERSITY?
Obvious things to consider religion, ethnicity (race), national origin (language) or gender. Less obvious areas to look for include age, education, socio-economic status, sexual orientation and mental or physical challenges.
WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCE?
Cultural competence is the ability to appreciate and respect others’ perspectives, values, beliefs, behaviors and communication styles
WHAT IS ETHNOCENTRISM?
Anyone who judges people or traditions based on his own cultural standards is guilty of ethnocentrism. It means believing that the way you’re used to doing things is the only right way to do them, and that people or cultures that do things differently are wrong. Ethnocentrism comes from the Greek ethno, or “people” and centric, “center;” so when you put your own people, or culture, at the center of the world, you’re letting your ethnocentrism show
WHAT IS CULTURAL DESIRE?
- Cultural desire is defined as the motivation of the nurse to “want to” engage in the process of becoming culturally aware, culturally knowledgeable, culturally skillful, and seeking cultural encounters.
- Cultural desire includes a genuine passion to be open and flexible with others, to accept differences and build on similarities, and to be willing to learn from others as cultural informants.
WHAT IS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY?
- A culturally competent nurse must develop cultural sensitivity. “Cultural sensitivity can be defined in the broadest sense to be an awareness and
- utilization of knowledge related to ethnicity, culture, gender, or sexual orientation in explaining and understanding situations and responses of individuals in their environment” (Facione, 1993, as cited in Broome, 2006). It is critical to assess each patient individually and not make cultural assumptions about a patient’s beliefs or health practices.
WHY IS CULTURAL AWARENESS IMPORTANT IN CARE GIVING?
- Interacting with patients from diverse cultural groups will refine or modify one’s existing beliefs about a cultural group and will prevent stereotyping.
- There is a direct relationship between culture and health practices. In fact, of the many factors that are known to determine health beliefs and behaviors, culture is the most influential.
- To meet the needs of culturally diverse groups, health care providers must engage in the process of becoming culturally competent.
HOW TO WORK WITH PATIENTS FROM A DIFFERENT CULTURE ?
- Accept the person for their beliefs (If their actions create a health and safety risk report this to the Case Manager, the Nurse or the Resource Consultant).
- Be neutral.
- Be considerate.
- Recognize the difference.
- Show respect.
- Be Person-Centered.
- Learn about the cultural traditions of the patients you care for.
- Pay close attention to body language, lack of response, or expressions of anxiety that may signal that the patient or family is in conflict but perhaps hesitant to tell you.
- Ask the patient and family open-ended questions to gain more information about their assumptions and expectations.
- Remain nonjudgmental when given information that reflects values that differ from yours.
- Follow the advice given by patients about appropriate ways to facilitate communication within families and between families and other health care providers.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ATHEIST AND AN AGNOSTIC?
- An agnostic is anyone who doesn’t claim to know for that any gods exist or not, no matter what their reasons or how they approach the question of whether any gods exist.
- An atheist is anyone who doesn’t happen to believe in any gods, no matter what their reasons or how they approach the question of whether any gods exist.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VEGAN AND A VEGETARIAN?
- In addition to not consuming any animal meat, a vegan doesn’t eat eggs, dairy products or any other product derived from an animal. Vegetarians, on the other hand, tend to eat eggs and dairy products like milk and butter.
- Vegans avoid using products that have been tested on animals, like make-up and skin creams, or products made from animal skins such as leather belts and shoes. But vegetarians tend to be a bit more lenient when it comes to using products derived from animals.