The Spirit Catches You This paper will be a book critique of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. The book looked at the case of a Hmong family living in the United States whose daughter becomes ill and the medical, ethical, and cultural issues surrounding the case. The book will be discussed in terms of how some of these issues occurred. There will be discussion of the questions given associated with the book as well as the group discussion that occurred in class.
Pre-Questions
Before we began reading the book we were asked to answer some questions regarding culture and health concerns. My answers to these pre-questions were fairly vague and I had little understanding to back them up. I did not feel a family should be forced to implement medical procedures that they did not believe in. However, I noted the importance of medicine and the scary idea that a parent could put their child at risk even unintentionally.
To me, the issue was two sided because I could understand if the parents did not believe or feel medicine could be helpful that forcing them could make matters worse for the child. As a professional, I can see the importance of treatment. Taking a child from the parents, I feel should be a worse case scenario. I felt that taking a child from a parent due to health
…show more content…
The importance of making yourself aware of a new culture when they step into your office is evident. As professionals we are ethically bond to provide the best care we can and that includes care to people outside our own culture. Lia’s doctors and other staff should have been working since the beginning to try and better understand Hmong culture and what possible implications could have been for Lia’s care. As counselors, we should check our own thoughts and beliefs at the doors to our office. Our own thoughts and opinions should not affect our
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
...nding my awareness to the cultures around me. Throughout this course I have learned many things about cultures that are recognizable to me, but I can defiantly say I have a different perspective on many cultures now. this book in particular, has opened my eyes to a culture I had no idea existed. The ways and traditions of the Hmong people, to me, is something I would expect to read about in a book about people from hundreds of years ago. Nevertheless, Fadiman had granted me the knowledge I need to know if I am ever faced with a Hmong patient, and for that I am grateful.
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
As our textbook states, “Communication includes the willingness of individuals to share their thoughts and feelings” (Purnell, 2103, p. 21). To that end, the Hmong people are primarily illiterate. For this culture, they have a belief that Americans are rude because direct eye contact is maintained when conversing, as well as asking direct questions. In order for there to be successful education regarding the risks of cupping or coining as well as needle pricks, it is important to know that when speaking to someone of the Hmong culture to use quick glances without starting and to initiate a light conversation prior to asking anything regarding their beliefs, health, etc. The Purnell Model of Cultural Competence states that the domain of high-risk behaviors is one area that healthcare providers can make a significant impact on a patient’s health status (Purnell, 2013, p. 30). Advice to the parents, under these circumstances along with other obstacles that could potentially be faced due to the very different cultural aspects, would best be given via one-on-one or through family counseling techniques. From what I have learned so far from our readings, spirituality plays a very important role in a cultures health and well-being. Knowing the beliefs pertinent to the culture you are treating allows you as the provider to better assist them to attaining better health and well-being. Trust is also paramount and it is very clear that to interfere with a person’s spirituality could possibly hinder their physical recovery and actually cause physical
Yes, I would recommend this book for use in this course in the future. I would even try to have this book become apart of the curriculum of other Public Health and Social Sciences courses as well. I think this book does a great job of depicting not only a Maternal and Child Health issue in an artistic and intriguing manner, but I feel it involves multiculturalism issues that are a great underlying problem within society today. The respect for newer immigrant’s cultures has been lost in time and I feel this book helps us return to our “melting pot” routes. This book opened my eyes to issues I didn’t even know existed and can help many learn to accept different cultures in a manner that is beneficial to both sides not only within the medical Maternal and Child Health field.
The Ethnographic novel The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the story of a the Lees, a Hmong refugee family from Laos. They moved to the United States in 1980. The author of this book follows the Lee family closely and records their interactions with people in America. This book has often been described as the “collision of two cultures” which is clear to see through the Lees experiences in America. The reason these two cultures “collide” is due to the monumental difference in comparing the Hmong culture to that of the United States, manly the Hmong verses the American attitudes towards western medicine.
Going to a different country or area of the world can open up anybody’s eyes to see that culture makes a huge impact on the understanding and practices of healthcare that seem to be so common to other areas of the world. When a person lives in one country their whole life, that person may not realize how different the life they live is from someone in a foreign country. If a person is going to receive treatment from someone with a different cultural background, they should be expected to get treatment to respects their own culture. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences having such a diverse variety of students has their own cultural competency definition that states “effectively and comfortably communicate across cultures with patients of differing backgrounds, taking into account aspects of trust in order to adopt mutually acceptable objectives and measures”. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine Dettwyler, the issue of culture and healthcare are greatly prevalent. Katherine Dettwyler herself goes to West Africa as an anthropologist and her horizons are broadened when during her research she comes in contact with how much culture has an impact on healthcare and everyday life.
Cultural Competence is important for many reasons. First, it can help develop culturally sensitive practices which can in turn help reduce barriers that affect treatment in health care settings. Second, it can help build understanding, which is critical in competence, in order wards knowing whom the person recognizes as a health care professional and whom they views as traditional healer, can aid the development of trust and improve the individual’s investment and participation in treatment. Third, our population in the United States is not only growing quickly but also changing, cultural competence will allow us as educators and healthcare workers keep up wi...
Lia’s doctors at the hospital did not understand the Hmong perspectives of medical services are totally inverse of the common American view, nor did they care to try and understand. On the other hand, it is not unusual for Hmong patients to remain respectful when they are given orders by their physician. By acting aware and seeming agreeable, they ensure their own particular dignity by disguising their obliviousness about the physician’s directions and orders in order to remain respectful. At that point, when they leave the hospital, they ignore everything to which they have settled
Providing a space for and allowing multiple family members in the room will allow for the maintenance of family dynamics and comfort to the patient while in the hospital setting. Native American patients may request that the nurse consult with the family elders before proceeding with care. Educating the patient and family in a way that is understandable will play major part in the recovery phase. Native Americans tend to comprehend educational materials and approaches that are concrete or experiential rather than abstract and theoretical. (Field,
As part of my Culture, Health and Illness class, I undertook a critical analysis of the book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures” by Anne Fadiman. This book was published in 1997, and documents the struggle of a Hmong family from Laos in communicating with and understanding the American health system.
This essay will be evaluating the question: how did language and communication play a role in shaping what happened to Lia? Also, it will look at if Fadiman points out ways in which communication practices between doctors and patients could be improved. These were important in the book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, because they shaped what would happen to Lia in the end. The evidence we will look at will include the facts that the doctors and the Lees couldn’t understand each other, the hospitals didn’t have enough interpreters for everyone, and that the Lees did not trust hospitals or doctors in the first place because of their culture.
In Hmong’s, they have their own traditional beliefs in which they hardly ever alter due to a different atmosphere. Some of the Hmong beliefs are they prefer traditional medicine, are culturally active, host ritual ceremonies, and are spirituality influenced. In the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, refers to the Hmong culture and their beliefs on medicine while their baby Lia Lee, is suffering from epilepsy in which they have a hard decision. Traditional Hmong’s have their own medicinal beliefs which they obey prior to obtaining Western medicine. The gulf between Western medicine and Hmong health beliefs is an impossible abyss. Also, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down describes the life of Hmong refugees assimilating to the American culture which brings challenge to Hmong traditions.
There are many main ideas and themes in the book “The Spirit Catches You When You Fall” by Anne Fadiman. I and my group discussed three themes and specific main points that we all thought was important to take from the book. Some of the main points that we discuss is Hmong culture/family, language barriers, and epilepsy. I will talk about the main points, a brief reflection on the doctor’s take on this situation and the theme sometimes you can’t control the outcome of situations.
Growing up I was the only one in my family with an olive skin tone who didn’t burn in the sun. Everyone always told me that I inherited my grandfather’s Cherokee Indian features. He never talked about his culture, so I have never associated myself with being Native American. Each Native American tribe has unique cultural beliefs and traditions that are passed down from generation to generation through storytelling. In my family, those traditions ended when my grandfather passed away. As an increasingly diverse country, it is important for nurses and health care providers to deliver culturally competent care. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Native American’s cultural beliefs related to end of life care and how health care providers can