CULTURE AND ETHNICITY

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CULTURE AND ETHNICITY
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CULTURE

• Beliefs, values and practices (patterns of
  behaviour) that are shared by a group of people
  and passed down from generation to generation
• Practices related to birth, becoming an adult,
  marriage, death
• Beliefs and values about prevention of illness,
  treatments, health care system

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ETHNICITY

• Persons ancestral roots shared past
• State of belonging to a group that is
  differentiated from others by symbolic markers
  (culture, territory, religion)
• May contain different cultures
• British, French, German, Italian, First Nations,
  Chinese
• Ethnic background or ethnic origin

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RACE

• Classification of people according to physical or
  biological traits, such as skin colour, facial
  features, bone structure, hair texture
• Black, Asian, Caucasian
• People of different cultures and ethnicity can
  belong to the same race

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MULTICULTURALISM IN CANADA

• Complex issue
• Promoting and accepting different cultures
• Tolerance and diversity is part of Canadian
  society
• Only country in the world to have a national
  multiculturalism law
• Multiculturalism Act (1988) racial and cultural
  equality protected by law

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CULTURE SHOCK

• Disoriented or unable to respond to a different
  cultural environment
• Environment is unfamiliar, strange, and
  incompatible with expectations
• Occurs when one is suddenly moved to a different
  culture or setting
• Reactions silence, immobility, agitation
• Examples??

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Characteristics of Cultures

• Learned from birth life experiences
• Taught verbal and non-verbal means
• Social - develops through interactions
• Adaptive dynamic and changing
• Satisfying persists to meet needs
• Difficult to articulate
• Exists at many levels material and abstract

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CULTURAL COMPETENCE

• Knowing, utilizing, and appreciating the culture
  of another in assisting with the resolution of a
  problem
• (DeSantis Lowe, 1992, p.1)

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To become culturally competent, nurses must

• Be aware of own cultural beliefs, values
• Become aware of clients culture as they describe
  it
• Develop care plans with clients that consider
  their cultural beliefs
• Avoid stereotyping clients by cultural norms
  individualized care
• Look at people as individuals
• Allow caring to guide actions

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Being culturally sensitive

• Address clients by last name
• Introduce yourself with your full name
• Be honest about lack of knowledge of their
  culture
• Use culturally sensitive language ask what term
  they prefer
• Explore what the client knows about their health
  problem
• Do not make assumptions ask
• Respect beliefs and practices of client and their
  family

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Cultural Parameters for Nursing

• Health beliefs and practices
• Family patterns
• Communication style
• Space orientation
• Time orientation
• Nutritional practices
• Pain responses
• Death and dying practices

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Leiningers Model for Cultural Awareness

• Madeline Leininger nursing leadership regarding
  culture and nursing
• Defined transcultural nursing
• Sunrise Model theory of cultural care