African-American Cultural Beliefs

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African-American is a politically correct term used to refer to blacks within the United States. The roots of many African-American rites can be traced back to African cultural rites. However, it is important to note that not all blacks in America identify with African cultural roots. Therefore, some of the rites found within what many in the United States call African-American culture stem from Caribbean and other cultural traditions. For this reason, when making end of life decisions or funeral arrangements the “cultural identification, spirituality and the social class” the individual identifies with must be taken into account. The black majority within the United States identifies with Afrocentric traditions and perspectives. For this reason the term African-American will be used within this paper to denote the black population found in America as comparisons are made regarding how end of life decisions are viewed and made by African-American culture verses the traditional western European beliefs of American culture (Barrett, 2002).

When considering “the four primary dimensions of care for those who are comping with dying,” both similarities and differences can be found between African-American cultural beliefs and what have been considered traditional American cultural beliefs when making end of life decisions. Although both cultures share a physical need to have their bodily needs met, they differ on how physical distress is viewed. American culture often wants to minimize the distress and discomfort felt as a way of coping. However, some cultures may ignore the natural desire to minimize discomfort (Corr, 2009). The African-American culture is one such culture. African-Americans who are making end of life decisions of...

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Rhodes, R., Teno, J., & Welch, L. (2006). Access to hospice for african americans: Are they informed about the option of hospice?. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 9(2), 268-272. doi:10.1089/jpm.2006.9.268.

Scales, T., & Streeter, C. (2004). Rural Social Work. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole/Thomson Learning.

Tschann, J., Kaufman, S., & Micco, G. (2003). Family involvement in end-of-life hospital care. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 51(6), 835-840. doi:10.1046/j.1365- 2389.2003.51266.x.

Welch, L., Teno, J., & Mor, V. (2005). End-of-life care in black and white: Race matters for medical care of dying patients and their families. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(7), 1145-1153. doi:10.1111/j.l532-5415.2005.53357.x.

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