Popular Cultural Practices

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Popular Cultural Practices Beliefs Home
Remedies Rituals

• By Milagros Batista, MSW
• Co-founder, Alianza Dominicana, Inc.
• Community Liaison, Dyson Initiative

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• This is part of a curriculum on cultural
  competency and community at Columbia University,
  Community Pediatrics department.
• The curriculum is following IOM recommendations
  which suggest that in order to provide culturally
  effective care we need to be knowledgeable,
  understanding, and have an appreciation of the
  patients culture.
• You need to take into account their beliefs,
  values, actions, customs, and unique health care
  needs of distinct population groups.

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What is Cultural Competency?

• The AAP definition for cultural competency is
• set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and
  policies that come together in a system, agency
  or amongst professionals and enables that system,
  agency or professionals to work effectively in
  cross-cultural situations.

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Cultural Competency Synonyms

• Culturally effective
• Culturally sensitive
• Cross-cultural
• Multicultural

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Does this make you culturally competent?

• To be culturally competent we need to be
  cognitive of
• Provider culture
• Biomedical culture
• Patient culture
• Negotiation

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Provider Culture Awareness

• What we bring to our interaction with people from
  other cultures is
• An awareness of who we are (e.g. gender, social
  class, etc.)
• Our family values (e.g. upbringing, religious
  beliefs, treatment beliefs, behavior, etc.)

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Biomedical Culture Awareness

• Physicians are trained to take only the
  bio-physical ailments into account
• Disregard for psycho-social issues
• Medical knowledge gives them the final say

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Patient Culture Awareness

• Core Cultural Issues (e.g. resources available,
  immigration issues, etc.)
• Perceptions of Disease and Illness
• Perceptions of Healing and Curing
• Perceptions of Doctors

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Negotiation

• Your own check and balance
• Communication and interaction in the encounter is
  effective and sensitive
• It is a win-win situation

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Goals

• Communication skills building
• Better treatment or services provided
• Health promotion and education
• Developing family-centered care
• Integrating other sources of care traditional
  healers, community health workers
• Reduce disparaties by decreasing error and
  improving health care.

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• My role in the curriculum is taking my knowledge
  and my role in the community into the medical
  community.
• My presentation on Popular Cultural Practices
  Beliefs Home Remedies Rituals is based on
  the Dominican experience since we are the
  predominant population in the area.

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Objective

• To increase the knowledge of Dominican cultural
  practices and beliefs as they relate to health

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Why is it important for medical health
professionals to know about the popular practices
and beliefs of their patient population?
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• Who are Dominicans?
• Where do they come from?
• Brief history of the Caribbean
• Ethnicity Spanish/European, African, Indigenous
  influences

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The Beliefs

• Health as an integrated vision
• The unity of physical, mental and spiritual health

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The Practices Home Remedies

• Physical health
• Agua de Rosa
• Aloe Vera
• Anise
• Bronquina
• Chamomille (Manzanilla)
• Cordial de Monell
• Higuereta (tree olive)
• Honey
• Lemon with salt

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The Practices Home Remedies

• Physical health (continued)
• Linden tree flowers (Tilo)
• Miel de Rosa (rose honey)
• Rabano Yodado / Rabano con Berro (Watercrest)
• Sancochito
• Scotts emulsion
• Sebo de flan (lambs wool oil)
• Siete Jarabes
• Tussibron

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The Practices Home Remedies

• Mental health
• Consultas
• Fiestas
• Reuniones Familiares
• Relaciones Humanas

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The Practices Home Remedies

• Spiritual
• Altars
• Hora Santa
• Incense
• Baths
• Despojos (cleansing)
• Clear water
• Reguardos (mal de Ojo evil eye)
• Cintas en colores (Mujeres Embarazadas)

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Cancion El Yerbero Moderno

• Popular song by Celia Cruz and la Sonora
  Mantancera (1948)