1. What is your Cultural awareness?
2. What is your Cultural knowledge?
One thing I had to learn was in order for me to understand other cultures and what they believe, I had to explore their own culture so I was able to acknowledge how culture was able to shape them. For example, when dealing with Asian patients, a lot of them do not look you in the eye. At first, I thought they were being rude but after becoming aware of their culture knowledge, I found out that looking someone on the eye is a sign of disrespect. Doing this research has helped me to become more open-minded and acknowledge the differences in values and beliefs which can have some kind of effect on the service that is provided.
3. What is your Cultural skill?
A couple of years ago, I was able to conduct a cultural assessment on a young Latino woman that was overweight. I was able to learn remarkable information in regards to this person's culture. After conducting a cultural assessment, I learned that in her cultural, being overweight was a sign of beauty. Parents encourage their children to eat so they can be big. So obesity is not frowned upon even though it is not looked at healthy in the United States culture. This was something I would have never found out if the basement had not been done. I also learned that they shy away from vegetables and fruits because they cost too much money to buy. I was a bit rusty, but I know that everything comes with practice. I walked away knowing how to assess a lot of obese Latinos that were in the same situation.
4. What Cultural encounters have you experienced?
I have experienced Asian, Latinos, and African Americans. When it came to health I understood that in the African-American patients that they came from frequently extended and nuclear families with non-connected “family” members. A lot of times I understood that their family may be matriarchal, even though mother or father could take on the decision-making role. However, the most interesting thing that I learned about this culture was that many of them were afraid to go to white doctors. The reason for this was that many are taught that they will not get the proper diagnosis especially if they are poor and black (McDougle, 2010). Because of that many shy away from ever going and in return they get sick and many of the actually die. I learned that African Americans are more probable to die from asthma than other races because they will not go to the doctor and get it checked out. I also learned that they also display a higher occurrence of periodontal disease and lactose intolerance, and have regular skin difficulties for instance melasma(McDougle, 2010).
5. What is your level of Cultural desire?
I believe that as nurse in the advanced practice profession, my role in lessening the differences in the care of Blacks or any other cultural group really does depend on my skill to make sure that I listen to the patient and study the patients' belief of illness and health. I think in order to become a culturally capable advanced practice nurse people will need to recognize and understand ethnically influenced health behaviors. The key source of difficulties when it comes to giving proper care to patients that come from diverse cultural backgrounds is the deficiency of having the accurate understanding.
References
Project: Self-assessment of cultural competency for Asian and Pacific Islander HIV prevention programs. (1999). Health Education and Behavior, 26(1), 8-9.
McDougle, L., Ukockis, G., & Adamshick, L. (2010). Evaluation of a new cultural competency training program: CARE Columbus. Journal of the National Medical Association, 102(9), 756-60.
Nagai, C. (2008). Clinicians' self-assessment of cultural and spiritual competency: Working with Asians and Asian Americans. Community Mental Health Journal, 44(4), 303-9.
