Filipino Immigrants’ Level of Acculturation as a
Guide to Nursing Care It is evident that the United States of America is a culturally diverse country. This diversity can contribute to healthcare challenges for nurses and providers that may decrease the quality of care for patients. It becomes more challenging when a culture’s health beliefs and practices contradict with their own. It is an integral role of a nurse to assess and identify a patient’s culture and health-related beliefs and concerns to provide maximum care. Filipino culture consists of health beliefs and practices that are not similar to U.S. culture. Serafica (2011) discusses on his article entitled, Concept Analysis of Acculturation in Filipino Immigrants Within Health Context, the Filipino immigrants’ level of acculturation in U.S. in relation to “incorporating acculturation issues into (to) nursing and health care.” Knowing the levels of acculturation will help the nurses and providers in addressing Filipino health problems in the hospital settings.
Literature Review Acculturation is defined as “a complex, multidimensional, and bidirectional process that involves the adoption of behaviors and attitudes of the host country and
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It provides a better understanding of the underlying factors of Filipino practices and beliefs in the United States. The article provides necessary information about how a culture change over time while in America. This level of acculturation is not only applicable to Filipinos but also to other cultures. The diversity of the country allows nurses to encounter various cultures with various health beliefs and practices in the hospital setting. Even if U.S health practices contradict to one’s own, it is important as a nurse to provide safety, comfort, and education, and to focus on patient-centered care at all
In a study, Li writes, “Healthcare team performance may be hindered due to the different cultural backgrounds of the nurses” (2014, p. 316). A report mentions that the IENs have less confidence in providing culturally competent care to the patients of the different culture due to lack of understanding of health beliefs, values and behaviors of that culture (Lampley, 2008). For instance, in Philippines, most of the decisions are made by the doctors. Nurses just follow doctors’ order in decision making (Tregunno, et al., 2009). But in Canada nurses are required to be more assertive and actively involved in decision-making and have more responsibility and accountability regarding patient care. Further, Canada is a multicultural country and
Curtin’s “Coculturation: Toward a Critical Theoretical Framework for Cultural Adjustment” explores the many aspects of cultural adaptation. To enhance the conversation and construct a dialogue that counters that of the status quo, Melissa L. Curtin proposes a theory of Coculturation. Curtin (2010) seeks to “underscore the complex and ongoing processes of identification for all members of a community; to challenge any notion of a static, monolithic target culture; and to foreground that macrolevel sociopolitical and sociohistorical contexts, as well as microlevel social interactional processes, are important in understanding cultural adjustment” (p. 271). This work illuminates the conversation of acculturation and assimilation by combating the hegemonic discourse of traditional theoretical frameworks. According to Curtin, the rhetoric surrounding acculturation in the U.S. commonly “presumes an imagined national host community of a white, monolingual, English-speaking America to which immigrants should quickly assimilate.”
Issues of culture are often controversial. LaBorde (2010) has noted that culture is always a factor in conflict. Ironically, conflict can provide nurses with an excellent opportunity for developing compassion that will lead nurses unto a place of meeting in which there is a deep respect for differences and equally intentional openness to the possibility of connection. Healthcare practitioners are confronted in a daily basis with the practical manifestation of these issues. In particular, nurses are more confronted by cultural issues than the other healthcare providers because nurses spend majority of their time with patients. However, some nurses are reluctant to confront and discuss the cultural issues because of lack of knowledge in dealing with patients of diverse cultures (Tjale & Villiers, 2004).
In chapter 28 of the Handbook of Multicultural Counseling, Rivera (2010) explained why there are multiple theories of acculturation in the United States. I can easily understand that acculturation is not a unidimensional process because I have seen and heard of individuals from other cultures coming to America who each react very differently when attempting to accommodate themselves to the traditional customs of the United States (Rivera, 2010). I assume that it can be extremely overwhelming to come into a culture that is so drastically unlike the one you grew up with. Conversely, while many acculturation models state that the integration strategy is the most preferred and successful approach to acculturation because it allows
Nurses have the obligation to be culturally competent and to provide culturally congruent patient care practices. This is importance to nursing profession and the practice implications of culturally competent care have been supported through evidence-based data. It is important to note that care is the foundation of nursing practice; and the practice
Culture, as define by Giddens, is a “pattern of shared attitudes, beliefs, self-definitions, norms, roles, and values that can occur among those who speak a particular language, or live in a defined geographical region.” (Giddens, 2013, p. 29) When constructing a nursing care plan it is important to understand the patients’ cultural background to fully understand how to care for them. Depending on what culture the individual identifies with, will direct the nurse to which nursing interventions need implemented in regards to certain aspects of care including health care practices and beliefs, how the patient views developmental and family roles, how communication occurs between patient and provider and possibly if that patient has any health
Immigration is a complex process that results in a transformation of identity. Depending on contextual, individual, and societal differences this transformation can have either positive or detrimental results. Initially, the immigrant will be faced with an intense culture shock while settling into a new country. During this time, cognitive functioning becomes increasingly jumbled amidst the new context, resulting in immense identity confusion. This process of acculturation involves two specific issues regarding identity for each individual. These two issues include the delicate balance between remaining ethnically distinct by retaining their cultural identity and the desire to maintain positive relations with the new society. A variety of risk factors can contribute to the success or failure at effectively acculturating. Thus, those that directly experience more risk factors experience an even more delicate and complex transition often resulting in high levels of stress, confusion, social anxiety, and declined mental health.
Transcultural nursing requires us to care for our patients by providing culturally sensitive care over a broad spectrum of patients. The purpose of this post is to describe cultural baggage, ethnocentrism, cultural imposition, prejudice, discrimination, and cultural congruence. I will also give an example of each term to help you understand the terminology related to nursing care. I will definite cultural self-assessment and explain why it is valuable for nurses to understand what their own self-assessment means. Finally, I will describe the five steps to delivering culturally congruent nursing care and how I have applied these concepts in my nursing practice.
In the clinical setting, nurses are believed to spend the most time with patients. This involves regularly dealing with people coming from different ethnicities and with different cultural practices and beliefs (Brown & Edwards, 2012). Given this cultural diversity, every patient may have his/her own cultural beliefs and practices regarding his/her own health and its treatment which can be similar or different to those ...
Providing culturally competent care is a vital responsibility of a nurse’s role in healthcare. “Culturally competent care means conveying acceptance of the patient’s health beliefs while sharing information, encouraging self-efficiency, and strengthening the patients coping resources” (Giddens, 2013). Competence is achieved through and ongoing process of understanding another culture and learning to accept and respect the differences.
As nurses entering the medical field understanding the culture of our patients is crucial to proper care. Each culture has their own set of beliefs and values that are shared among groups of people which influences personality, language, lifestyles, house hold, level modesty, social standings, foods, health treatment and identity. Culture affects how people view health and illness; dictating when, where and what type of medical treatment they will receive and who will be their care provider.
This paper explores the concept of culture, its definitions, and its application to nursing and health care. Culture is a group's customs, habits, morals, and shared beliefs. The understanding of culture, not only as a concept, but how it relates to health care is imperative for providers. The lack of cultural awareness, or competency, leads to miscommunication, inadequacy of care, and health disparities among individuals and groups. Jehovah’s Witness’ are one group of individuals with defined morals and beliefs that can be at odds with routine health care: they do not accept most blood products. Understanding how culture can impact a patient, their needs, and beliefs can improve patient outcomes and improve satisfaction rates.
As a nurse strive to provide culturally sensitive care, they must recognize how their client's and their perceptions are similiar as well as different. Nurse enhance their ability to provide client-centered care by reflecting on how their beliefs and values impact the nurse-patient relationship. To provide appropriate patient care, the nurse must understand her/his culture and that of the nurse profession. Cultural biases can be particularly difficult to identify when the nurse and client are of a similar cultural backgroup. When we recognize and know a culture, we will know what is right for our patient, and thus may impose our own values on the client by assuming our values are their values. Recognizing differences a present an opportunity not only to know the other, but also to help gain a greater sense of self. In this paper, I will explain more about diversity and cultural competence in case study.
Teske, Raymond H.C., Jr., and Bardin H. Nelson. Acculturation and Assimilation: A Clarification 1.2 (1974): 351-67. Jstor.org. Jstor.org/journals, Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Characteristics can be as diverse as ethnic background, language spoken, gender status, physical appearance, race, and religion to name a few. Migration from various countries is creating a diverse population with different cultures and languages within the United States. Due to these cultural differences and lack of knowledge, disparities are increasing. Studies have shown that both language barriers and lack of cultural customs can hinder the services provided to the patient by the healthcare worker (Renzaho, Romios, Crock, & Sonderlund, 2013). This study provided a positive outcome when communication and cultural mutual understanding took place and patients had a more positive health outcome. It is very important that nurses are diversified in various cultures in order to better care for our patients. According to Mareno and Hart (2014), cultural competency has become one of the core values being taught in nursing programs. Their study showed that the perceived level of cultural awareness and skills among the nurses provided was low. Awareness and knowledge levels increased with higher education. It was highly recommended that self-awareness exercises be incorporated into the nursing course and continued to be addressed during the remaining curriculum until