Essay Sample on Roles of Culture in Health, Illness, and Healing

Introduction

Culture plays a vital role both in society and in the international setting. Culture is said to be the features and knowledge of a given category of people that include music, religion, language, social habits, and arts. There are also the existing deductions of a shared pattern of behaviors and interactions learned through the concepts of socialization. The article explains the part of the culture in health, diseases, and curing and medical anthropology’s contribution to the individual and public health in domestic and international contexts.

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Culture in Healthcare

Culture is said to have a vital impact on both the process of diagnosis and treatment options. It is because of the based on the different social beliefs. Various cultural influences affect the health of individuals. These include family and community, religion, perspective on demise, gender character, health beliefs, beliefs about treatment, and also a response to medication (Crowell & Boynton, 2020).

It is important to note that almost everyone tends to retain certain beliefs. Such are caused as an outcome of influence from the family and community. It is then according to the country that the individuals come from. For instance, some families and communities tend to relate and rely heavily on extended families such as Asians and Pacific Islanders. The reason why family and culture affect the health of individuals is that honor and the notice of the interest of the family that they are very significant than the attention of a single individual (Crowell & Boynton, 2020). Some of the healthcare providers tend to fail to understand these situations and hence fail to provide the required services. On the other hand, healthcare providers that understand the condition of families and community administer the necessary medication accordingly, ensuring the meeting of all the interests of the family within the community.

Secondly, it is vital to note the importance of religion. Religion then stated as a relation of a human being to the sacred, divine, and spiritual or worthy of especial reverence. It then also regarded as the way people deal with ultimate concerns between their lives and their fate after they have died (Simpson, Farr-Wharton & Reddy, 2020). The religion established as a way of life and how individuals tend to relate and behave in the spiritual world. It being one of the means of survival, religion can profoundly affect treatment by giving a barrier to the procedures for carrying out the treatment.

For instance, from the explanation that Jews have obtained from taking certain foods as a result of religion. Such is essential as it will help the medical provider to consider when recommending the diet to these groups of individuals. Also, some communities believe that they are suffering as a result of punishment from God and hence seek medication. Through prayers without going to see the medical professional. It is important to note that such communities are dependent on God and the Bible as the only way of getting healed, and hence they may have a poor medical record.

Culture affects how people view death. Most of the families have a different perception of death and see it differently. Doctors are concerned when providing medication on how the families view dying. Doctors are supposed to understand how families view death and how they treat their people when they die. It is important to note that doctors will understand how to provide medication when they know how the families will behave.

Also, some of the culture or families fail to go to hospitals. It is as a result of fearing how their members will be treated. Medical providers want to know the best way to handle end of life care and make the change of the family individuals as comfortable as possible. When this is well understood, the families will be happy to access medication from the healthcare facilities that are around. End of life is considered an essential transition from one entity to another life that some cultural beliefs that it should be handled with utmost care to the person changing.

Fourthly, gender tends to affect health in various ways. Different genders tend to have different beliefs about medical treatment. These genders that are caused by different cultures affect how health services are provided (Simpson, Farr-Wharton & Reddy, 2020). For example, women tend to request less invasive treatment so that they can be more comfortable. Gender plays an important role and may hinder treatment or allow treatment among the relationships. One partner may be dominant, and the other one may not be dominant and hence leading to a negative response and leading to the other partner not to attend to medication.

Cultures tend to have different beliefs concerning health care as a whole (Crowell & Boynton, 2020). Caucasians tend to have little pain patience comparing to other ethnicities and often have a bigger expectation concerning their physical recovery and the expectation to receive a prescription. Health beliefs tend to affect how people see health and adhere to medication. For instance, individuals coming from the Hispanic scene tend to admire quick relief, and most of them are less willing to trust American resolve.

Health is affected by beliefs about medication. As indicated, Caucasians tend to have a lot of faith in prescription drugs and new remedies. Hence, they tend to take medication ad they are prescribed by the medical. Some of the beliefs in the community allow the medicine to take place while others do not allow them for medication. Belief tends to hinder and disrupt the effectiveness of the used medication. Some of the cultural groups, such as Native Americans and African Americans, do not like medication and tend to stop taking it prematurely. The remedy in some culture seen as not the right way, and they rely on the cultural events and members within the community as the medical provider.

Culture affects how individuals respond to medication. Some of the individuals have a high rate of responding to medication, while others do not respond as required. Such is one of the significant influences of the culture and affects how the patient reacts physically to medication (Mannion & Davies, 2016). To some extent, people from backgrounds that are not from Caucasians tend not to metabolize the medication correctly. Therefore, it may cause severe complications during the time of drugs.

Caucasian patients are said to handle a wider variety of medications as compared to how other cultures do. Doctors are focused on understanding how people from different cultures respond to medication. It is by understanding how these individuals perceive medication and their response help to administer the same and how the different cultures should react to a different medication. The drug will help the community to change the culture or help the members to get the required medication.

Culture affects the view of health, diseases, and demise. In various societies, the perception that individuals have about fitness and how people experience illness is different. Some tend to have a belief that health, disease and death are caused by misfortunes, while other communities believe it’s a punishment from God. These various views tend to make it difficult for the achievement of good healthcare in a given community. Health is dependent on how individuals perceive and attend to their cultural practices ensuring that the best practices are maintained.

There is the presumption that healthcare providers are affected by their culture when providing medication or healthcare. Culture shapes how individuals in the community behave and offers other services. It is the same way the medical professionals focus on their culture to help others. For example, th notice that the health of the Canadian system has been framed and changed by the mainstream beliefs of the governing historical culture (O’Donovan, Ward, De Brún & McAuliffe, 2019).

Cultural bias is associated with various health-related taste and perceptions. The preference of one culture may not be witnessed in another culture. Come culture prefers to have good health, and others do not prefer that. The differences set s a doctor to be culturally competent so that he or she understands the differences in the preferences and ensure the profound following of the health of a particular culture. Also, the perspective among different cultures allows the health caregivers to ask about the different beliefs that the culture allows or the source of care for the community. It helps the organization to include the new awareness into the diagnosis and the treatment plan of the community.

Through the demonstration of awareness of the culture of a given community, it ensures that the community is assured of trust and better healthcare when they visit the facilities. Most of the cultures do not have confidence in healthcare, and therefore they depend on their culture for survival. Healthcare professionals are required to create trust among the patients so that they can be able to meet the needs of the cultures.

Conclusion

Culture plays a crucial part in the health, illness, and death of the members of a given society. It tends to hinder or allow modern medications to take place. It is important to note that everyone has a culture, and it depends on how the culture percepts health as it determines the acceptance of healthcare in society. Culture is vital, and the healthcare providers are supposed to be culturally competent so that they cover al the communities.

References

Crowell, D. M., & Boynton, B. (2020). Complexity leadership: Nursing’s role in health care delivery. FA Davis.

Mannion, R., & Davies, H. (2016). Culture in health care organizations. The Oxford Handbook of Health Care Management, 93-116.

O’Donovan, R., Ward, M., De Brún, A., & McAuliffe, E. (2019). Safety culture in health care teams: A narrative review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(5), 871-883. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12740

Simpson, A. V., Farr-Wharton, B., & Reddy, P. (2020). Cultivating organizational compassion in healthcare. Journal of Management & Organization, 26(3), 340-354. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2019.54