Cultural Perspectives on Health: A Comparative Analysis of Ukrainian and African American Beliefs and Practices

Introduction

The two cultural populations chosen for this assignment are Ukrainians and African Americans. Ukrainians come from Eastern Europe and mainly Ukraine, while African Americans reside mainly in the US's Northern part (Vakulenko et al., 2020). The two cultural populations also speak different languages. The majority of people in Ukraine speak Ukrainian, which is a language that is closely related to Russians and Belarusians, while African Americans speak Ebonics, which is also referred to as African American Vernacular English as it has a dialect of American English that is spoken by the majority of African Americans in the US.

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Cultural Health Practices and Beliefs of the Two Patient Populations

Ukraine people and African Americans have different health practices and beliefs. In this section, their health beliefs from birth to death will be discussed. Five main aspects of human development will be discussed for the two cultural populations. The aspects include labor and delivery, pediatrics, adults, elderly, and death.

Ukrainian Cultural Population

Ukrainians believe that women have to go through a natural labor in a health facility and go through delivering a baby. After a baby has been delivered, Ukrainians believe that the infant has to go through all the development milestones by being closely monitored by the health care providers. Pediatrics play an essential role during the development of children among the Ukrainians as it contributes to the innovative, practical health care of the children in the country (Ganczak et al., 2020).

In Ukraine, the adults believe that they are not immune to infections, and therefore, they continue seeking health assistance throughout their adulthood, whether feeling unwell or not. The adults usually go for periodic check-ups to ensure that they are well all the time. As the Ukrainians start aging, health care needs even increase (Ganczak et al., 2020). They usually believe that people's immunity weakens as they start to age, and therefore, they need more health care than any other person.

Finally, in Ukrainian culture, death is seen as an integral part of life, and they believe that the dead can communicate with the living and vice versa. In Ukraine, death is classified into a 'Good death' and a 'bad death.' There are even various memorials in the country to mark tragic deaths (Vakulenko et al., 2020). These tragic deaths places are found in most Ukrainian roads. The Ukrainians' main health issues include ischemic heart disease, stroke, dementia, Cirrhosis, and lung cancer.

African Americans Cultural Population

Like Ukrainians, African Americans have their health care beliefs and practices. They also believe in natural labor and delivery. However, African Americans usually do not have trust with most health centers, and most deliveries in the past took place at home. Pediatrics do not play an important role in children's development, as black parents do not trust the health care organizations (Vakulenko et al., 2020). There is a kind of hostility between African Americans and health care providers. African American adults have the lowest rate of seeking medical assistance than other races in the US. According to Kennedy et al. (2018), African Americans' rate of seeking medical checks is 5%, which is too low when compared to White People (30%) (Clark et al., 2018). Although aging people need a lot of medical care due to the reduced immunity, African American elderly do not seek medical checks or assistance as frequently as whites. This explains why African Americans have a shorter life expectancy when compared to other races in the US. Like in Ukrainian culture, death is a very important cultural aspect among African Americans. They usually have distinct traditions, customs, and procedures that they strictly adhere to whenever their beloved ones die. Their burials are characterized by a large number of people who come to mourn with the deceased. Some of the health issues that mainly affect African Americans include sickle cell anemia, high blood pressure, stroke, and diabetes.

A transcultural nurse must consider culturally competent practices of Ukrainian and African American cultures. Some of the three culturally competent practices that a transcultural nurse must consider when dealing with Ukrainian patients include Ukrainians prefer to eat at their homes, there ancient rituals and traditions matter a lot, and folk healers who Ukrainians believe they offer additional healing solutions. For African Americans, the nurse needs to know three main cultural beliefs associated with blacks. They include; they have no trust with health care providers and systems, they fear surgery may spread cancer to them, and finally, they believe that using opioids for pain management may lead to addiction (Howard, 2019).

References

Clark, J. L., Phoenix, S., Bilbrey, A. C., McManis, T., Escal, K. A., Arulanantham, R. & Ghatak, R. (2018). Cultural competency in dementia care: An African American case study. Clinical gerontologist, 41(3), 255-260. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07317115.2017.1420725.

Kennedy, B. R., PMN-CNS, B. C., & Jenkins, C. C. (2018). African American Women and Depression: Promoting the Need for Culturally Competent Treatment. BRK Global Healthcare Journal. https://brkhealthcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/African_American__Women_and_Depression.pdf.

Howard, D. L. (2019). Effective Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder among African Americans. In Effective Prevention and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders for Racial and Ethnic Minorities. IntechOpen. https://www.intechopen.com/books/effective-prevention-and-treatment-of-substance-use-disorders-for-racial-and-ethnic-minorities/effective-treatment-of-opioid-use-disorder-among-african-americans.

Ganczak, M., Bielecki, K., Drozd-Dabrowska, M., Topczewska, K., Biesiada, D., Molas-Biesiada, A. & Gorman, D. (2020). Vaccination concerns, beliefs and practices among Ukrainian migrants in Poland: A qualitative study. https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-32388/latest.pdf.

Vakulenko, V., Bourmistrov, A., & Grossi, G. (2020). Reverse decoupling: Ukrainian case of healthcare financing system reform. International Journal of Public Sector Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPSM-10-2019-0262/full/html.