Cultural Approaches to Patient Teaching or Promoting Health

Cultural Approaches to Patient Teaching or Health Promotion
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Cultural Approaches to Patient Teaching or Health Promotion
Introduction
Cultural diversity in the United States and around the world poses various challenges to the global health care system's interventions to provide quality and safe care services to patients. The global community as a whole comprises of people from different social, political, and economic backgrounds and thus contributing to the equally diverse attitudes and approaches towards matters of health at both the individual and collective levels. The outlined aspects play a significant role in determining the cultural orientation of an individual and the community as a whole. The distinct cultural orientations are dependent on the equally diverse beliefs, values, and ideologies shared by a group of people, which further play an integral part in determining how individuals, as well as societies, perceive and deal with their health care needs or concerns. The cultural oriented perceptions and attitudes towards health care needs and concerns call for the application of effective interventions towards patient education and health promotion. The provision of quality health care is dependent on the application of comprehensive interventional measures that incorporates the influence of cultural diversity towards the delivery of the same. Reducing disparities in the delivery of health care services across the social divides within societies in the United States and around the world depends on the application of a culturally competent interventional measure in the delivery of health care services. It is, therefore, important to highlight some of the effective cultural approaches for addressing the disparities witnessed in the delivery of health care services to patients across the different cultural orientations. Such interventional measures function to increase the patients' awareness of their health care needs and concerns through health promotion as well as enhancing nursing education. As primary care providers, nurses have a significant role to play in ensuring that patients receive quality health care irrespective of their cultural or social background.
Cultural Aspects and Their Influence on Health Promotion
An individual's or group of people's shared beliefs, values, or ideologies define what is commonly referred to as culture. The shared interests form the basis upon which members of the said group carry out their daily activities. The approach to health care concerns and needs at both the personal and community levels are also influenced by the shared values and beliefs concerning the same. The different cultures embraced by the different social groups or societies in the United States account for the different perceptions, attitudes, and approaches to health care needs or concerns among patients. Consequently, the delivery of health care services continues to witness disparities among patients across the cultural divide. Addressing such disparities demands a comprehensive understanding of the cultural aspects upon or within which the cultural disparities develop in the delivery of health care services. Additionally, understanding of the cultural aspects forms the basis for the development of effective interventional measures towards enhancing cultural competence in the delivery of health care services.
A person's or group's way of living may be influenced by various factors including but not limited to their social and economic divides. At the social level, for instance, a person's social or ethnic group within which they belong forms the foundation upon which they develop certain values and attitudes towards health care concerns and needs. African and Latin Americans are excellent examples of ethnic groups with different perceptions concerning health care matters and thus leading to disparities towards both health care teaching and promotion. The economic status of an individual is also a key determinant of how they perceive and approach their medical needs and concerns (Daniel et al., 2018). A patient with low income or financial ability, for instance, tends to have limited access to quality health care services. The low financial status creates a notion or belief that health care concerns such as going for medical checkups or enrolling for medical covers are meant for the rich and wealthy members in society. The socio-cultural factors of ethnic or racial backgrounds as well as class and economic status make for some of the cultural aspects contributing to cultural disparities in the delivery of health care services. The outlined socio-cultural factors further determine the literacy levels of patients as well as their ability to communicate with the health care providers. Hence, disparities in the delivery of health care services are bound to occur and thus necessitating the application of effective interventional measures towards addressing the cultural differences witnessed in the delivery of health care services.
Effective health promotion is dependent on the health care providers’ ability to incorporate or rather take into consideration the social-cultural factors limiting patient's access to quality health care services (Mohamed, 2014). It is also important to reiterate the fact that these factors go beyond personal responsibilities for medical wellbeing as they are inclusive of the external or social influences affecting a person's approach and perception towards their health care needs. Developing effective interventional measures towards enhancing cultural competence in the delivery of quality health care services requires an understanding of the impact of culture on the same.
Scope of Cultural Influence in the Delivery of Health Care Services
The delivery of health care services especially when dealing with chronic diseases makes for an excellent platform for highlighting the cultural disparities witnessed in the United States. Both the ethnic and racial minorities across the U.S account for the highest number of individuals or patients suffering from chronic illnesses. The United States is currently facing an increase in the number of patients with chronic illnesses, which further correlates to the increase in the cost of health care. According to research conducted by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, African and Latin Americans are more likely to have a chronic ailment compared to the White majority (Georgetown University, 2020). The fact that a majority of patients suffering from the rising cases of chronic illnesses are members of both the ethnic and racial minorities in the U.S. calls for effective implementation of a culturally competent health care delivery model. The United States population is expected to be more diverse in the future and thus projecting an increased burden to both the racial and ethnic minority groups in the country. According to the same research conducted by the Health Institute, language and cultural differences are projected to be some of the factors challenging or limiting health care teaching and promotion. Provided herein is a summary analysis of some of the cultural aspects and their effects on health teaching and promotion in the United States
Communication Barrier
Language barrier forms one of the common challenges faced by health care providers in their quest to deliver quality health care services to patients in the United States. The non-English speaking patients in the United States often have a difficult time explaining or rather communicating their health concerns to health care providers. Health care providers often have a difficult time educating or teaching non-English speaking patients due to a lack of enough interpreters to facilitate the delivery of quality health care services (Norouzinia et al., 2016). Language barrier also functions to limit health promotion due to poor comprehension of the medical materials used by nurses and other health care providers in patient education or health promotion endeavors.
Low Literacy Levels
Another factor associated with the cultural orientation of an individual or a group of people in the l...