Cultural Diversity and Health Traditions

Today when people move across continents with the help of technology their culture and heritage moves along with them. Almost each and every continent is populated with people from different nations who have diverse traditions and cultures. Thus knowledge of health traditions and culture plays a vital role in nursing. People from different cultures have a unique view on health and illness. Culture-specific care is a vital skill to the modern nurse, as the United States continues to consist of many immigrants who have become assimilated into one culture. I interviewed three families of different cultures: - Indian (my culture), Hispanic and Chinese. Let us see the differences in health traditions between these cultures.

Common Health Traditions in Indian Culture

Some common health traditions based on my culture include the use of Unani Medicine, Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga, Naturopathy and Homeopathy in daily use in rural villages as well as urban low cost clinics. The treatment however is highly individualized. Unani medicine is ancient Greek medicine that was based on the concept of balancing body humors. They either fell out of balance, which might yield diseases (depending on circumstances), or were restored to balance to heal diseases. Unani systems involve these four elements: earth, air, water, and fire; along with four natures: cold, hot, wet, and dry; and four humors: blood (which is hot/wet), phlegm (cold/wet), yellow bile (hot/dry), and black bile (cold/dry). Ayurveda is mainly based on herbs, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables and all vegetation that grows around us in plenty. It is our native system based on the peculiar Indian conditions. Ayurveda begins when everything fails and when the treatment is uncertain a...

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...ome culturally competent: (a) valuing diversity, (b) having the capacity for cultural assessment, (c) being conscious of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact, (d) having institutionalized cultural knowledge, and (e) having developed adaptations of service delivery that reflect an understanding of cultural diversity.

As we have seen that cultural diversity exists almost everywhere and cultural health traditions have a huge impact on healing. Therefore in conclusion, in this ever changing transcultural society that practices health traditions immensely, getting to know and understand cultural beliefs and health traditions has become a major requirement for nurses. By doing so, nurses will fulfill the role of successful entrepreneurs who can skillfully implement modern health care practices for the patients and thereby avoiding various cultural conflicts.