Cultural Diversity
I chose to do the cultural assessment paper on a co-worker who is from Ukraine. Her name is Inna Kunitskaya Caucasian. She was born in Ivanovo, Belarus. However, for the purpose of this paper, we will use her initials I.K. I.K came to US in 1994 and lived here for a total of eighteen years with her family. She is the second born in the family of the ten (Personal Communication, April 24, 2013).
I.K‘s primary language is Ukrainian and Russian. As a result of her stay in USA, she is now fluent in English. Her voice quality is average with moderate silence of period. Nonverbal movement is used in her communication with hand gestures and eye contact. As a nurse, she likes using touch when caring for her patients at work. When a stranger touches her, she feels awkward because she does not know the person. In case they continue to do it thinking it is alright, she tells them that she is not comfortable with them doing that. However, she feels pleased when touched by her loved ones. To her, such a touch is a symbol of love.
Her degree of comfort regarding space depends on whoever she interacts with. if it is a family member or friends or someone about something personal, she likes talking to them at a close distance. However, if it is her coworkers, strangers or acquaintances, she keeps a normal distance. She feels comfortable talking to people at a distance of eighteen inches to three feet.
I.K is not married and is living with her parents. She is in a good state of health and goes to school to be a nurse. She would like to work in the hospital in the future when she is done with school. Now, she is working in the hospital as a nursing assistant. I.K is a very friendly and sociable person at work. She likes social activities like going to church, family get together and hockey games. She also believes in God and goes to church every Sunday. Besides, she reads the bible and sings song at church. During her free time, she goes out with friends to watch movie. Her hobby is shopping. Her role in the family is being a child and helping her family by cooking, cleaning and taking care of her siblings.
When she was still young, she was influenced by her mother. Her mother is a strong woman who takes care of her ten children, family events and works outside the house to support the family. She wants to be strong like her mother. I.K is very family oriented person. Family and friends are a big part of her life, all her families are close and involves in each other’s lives. All holidays, birthday, and parties are very important in their family and celebrated with family. If you are invited to a Ukrainian’s home for a meal, it is polite to bring something like cake, flowers or liquor. Interestingly, the oldest or most honored guest is served first to show their respect for the guest. Refusing a dish is considered rude-you have to test everything.
I.K states that she is time conscious. She sleeps for at least eight hours at night and understands the importance of taking medication on time. She has a value for time when she has appointment, she will be there fifteen or twenty minutes earlier.
She does not believe in supernatural forces like magic, witchcraft or karma. She only believes in prayer. Her family always welcomes unexpected visitors in their home making them to have visitors almost every day. When somebody gets sick from the family, her parents try to make him or her to feel better and rush them to the hospital if the case is so serious. Her family uses modern medicine than traditional medicine. Her family state of health is excellent and has no known diseases. Her definition of good health is “good health means not being sick.”When her family member gets sick, it is her mother who takes care of them.
I.K weighs hundred twenty five pounds and has a height of five feet and seven inch. She has a medium blonde hair color and medium body structure typical of young women. She likes to eat potatoes, soup and pizza. However, she is an appreciative lady who eats whatever her mother prepares for the family. Her mother likes to cook Ukrainian/Russian foods especially borshch (which is national soup of Ukraine). When she gets angry, she avoids people. Friends and close acquaintances may refer to each other by their first name. it challenges her when handling her patients since it is hard for her to call them by their last name.
Russia is the largest country in the world with a total landmass of approximately 77% of the land. This is practically almost twice the size of United States. Of the 142,893,540 people in Russia, 79.8% are Russian, 2% are Ukrainian, 3.8% are Tartar, and 14.4% are other (Giger, 2008, p.411). Initially, it was known as the Soviet Union. Modern Ukraine culture has a lot in common with Russian and Belarusian cultures (Ukraine culture, 2007).Most of the time, Ukrainians keep their emotions inside. Although, if they feel that it is necessary to express their indignation in the public, they do not hesitate to say what they think. In general, Ukrainians are much more spontaneous and straightforward than the westerners.
Ukrainian tone may be loud. They use direct eye contact comfortably. Touch and close space is used freely with friends and family. More distance is common until a relationship has been established. Greetings are taken seriously since it is sign of respect. “The gentle kiss of a man on a women’s hand is a gesture of respect and admiration” (Giger, 2008, p.419). The majority of the population in Ukraine is bilingual.
Ukrainians have strong bonds with their extended families. The family life is built on dependence and family pulls together in crisis. Also, they are respectful of their elders and authority. Marriage gives Ukrainian women a respectable social status. Housework is a women’s responsibility. Gender is not a sensitive issue in health sector. Over 97% of the religious communities registered in Ukraine are Christians. About half of these communities are of the Orthodox tradition, the other half is divided among Catholics and Protestants (Ukraine culture, 2007).
Refusing to drink as much as the rest of the company is considered disrespectful. Drinking in Ukraine is a cultural phenomenon. It doesn't mean that everybody can be considered as being an alcoholic-drinking in company is encouraged. Drinking a bottle of vodka for three is not considered as excessive. Nevertheless, after this "normal portion" people have to "cure" themselves by drinking a small amount of alcohol the next morning. This is popularly called "opokhmelitsya"(Ukraine culture, 2007).
As nurses, we can make a lot of misleading assumptions regarding our patients. This may be caused by cultural diversity. In this regard, we need to be open and flexible in our approach to them. We should not rely on our preconceived opinion about their cultural beliefs. For example, I once had a patient from Ukraine who had a surgery. Together with his family, he refused to take pain relievers. I was judgmental and kept on saying to my coworkers why this patient refused to take care. One of my colleagues is from Russia. He said that the Ukrainian patient have a high pain threshold. After that, I went to the room and introduced myself again with handshake. I addressed the situation again to know why he needed to take pain medicine. After that, the patient and the mother smiled and the mother explained her fear to me about having pain medicine and the dangers of possible addiction. I called the doctor and changed the pain medicine to non-narcotic medicine before the patient accepted to take it. I realized that I was culturally bias. As a professional, I had to be dynamic and accept to tolerate and appreciate all my patients irrespective of their cultural background.
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Reference
Ukraine culture, 2007.Ukraine people, education, religion. Retrieved from www.http://
www.ukraine-travel-advisor.com/ukraine-culture.html
Giger, J. N. (2013). Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO:
Elsevier Mosby.
