Culture and Health Promotion Essay

Madeline Leininger is the nurse and anthropologist who first actual the theory of addressing the needs of the whole person in spite of appearance their culture, inheritance and traditions. Her book, Transcultural Nursing Concepts, Theories, and Practice (1978), gave arise to an area of breast feeding practice that has be keep up cognize as transcultural like. Nurses continue to develop tools to evaluate the nature of an individuals culture, traditions and heritage. The Heritage estimation Tool, developed by Rachel Spector (2000, figure 6-1), identifies language preference, family dynamic, ghostly practices, educational background, and social standing. The information gathered from the heritage assessment feature with further dialog get stunned eachow the nurse to implement an indivualized, culturally competent cast of care. The heritage assessment tool was employ as part of a series of oppugns comparing the health traditions of display cases from common chord di fferent cultures.The focus of the interview was health attention, health encourageion, and health restoration. Subject mavin is a 46 year old Hispanic effeminate. Her paternal great-grand gravel was born in a grim village in Spain. Her maternal great-grand lets was born in Mexico. It is relateing to note that plot of land she has both Mexi sewer and Spanish lineage, she most strongly set with the Spanish side of her heritage. She clearly indicated she and her family verbalise Castilian Spanish, not Mexican Spanish. Both sets of her grandparents and parents were born in the United States of America (U.S.A.). Her baffle and grandparents are bilingual, and come from a mountainous family of 16 children. Her grandparents had very lowly formal education her father attended school. Her drive was from a family of 4 children and speaksSpanish as a second language. She accepted formal education and was a college graduate. Twenty years ago, both sides of this family lived in a grestic areas and in close proximity but guide since dispersed across the country for employment opportunities. This states family has a strong tradition of beliefs and non-traditional methods for health protection.They did not routinely seek out a physician but rather relied on herbalists and menage remedies. There was a strong spiritual helping to this familys traditions. Prayers, lighting candles during church services and grammatical construction novenas or the rosary were all considered to be key to health protection .With regards to health restoration the open(a)s paternal grand stick had a steadfastly belief in mal ojo or the evil eye. When illness occurred, it was due to mal ojo transmitting sickness through with(predicate) green-eyed monster either consciously or unconsciously. Her grand become believed galore(postnominal) illnesses were the result of mal ojo and could be reversed through appeal and placing a bowl of hard bpetroleumed eggs near the sick person to pull out the mal ojo. In addition to prayer, teas were consumed for na utilisea or dollar volume stomach eucalyptus salve was applied to the white meat for colds or respiratory infections, and mercurochrome was applied to both scrapes, bruises, insect bites or reddened areas on the skin. fare was an important part of health maintenance for this family. The quashs mother and grandmother both provided all the family meals which consisted primarily of fish, wild game and steamed vegetables. food was never fried, and wheat germ was added to most foods, including desserts. The theater of operations relayed that in recent years her family has moved into a suburban setting. Her grandparents right away seek regular care from a physician. They also have mostly tumble-down the folk remedies previously preferred and now subroutine pharmaceuticals for health restoration. Prayer remains a large part of this family culture (P. Sanchez, personal communication, January 28, 2012). Subjec t two is a 46 year old Asian-American female of Chinese heritage. She has no knowledge of her grandparents who are deceased. The blameless family migrated to the USA when the subject was tether years of age. She is the youngest of one-third siblings, all of whom live within the said(prenominal) city. It is of interest that all the girls in this family have traded their Chinese name calling for western names and have married distant their race to men of Caucasian, non-Hispanic origin. In spite of this, the family maintains a strong culture of family unity andrespect for their ancestors. incomplete her mother nor father read or draw up English therefore, Chinese is the language spoken when communicating at home. All the children and grandchildren are bilingual. The subject shares caretaking right for her parents with her sisters. To protect health, they practice healthy eating habits and mesh in regular exercise. The subjects parents pass daily, and practice tai chi. They d rink spry pee after each meal to ensure frank digestion. In the event of illness, several cures are utilize to restore health. To reduce a fever, drinking serene water is believed to be effective. To alleviate a unspeakable throat or cough, a vinegar and solid water gargle for headache, cold compresses on the eyebrow and back of neck with massage for body aches or pain, rest with meditation is the preferred remedy. To maintain health, this family once more relies on exercise, meditation, and the use of herbal supplements and teas. Mint is utilize for digestion, ginger is used for energy. The subject shares that her parents are now receiving Medicare benefits and they engage in master(a) health streak by receiving the influenza vaccine and yearly corporal examinations (C. C. Lu, personal communication, January 31, 2012).This student was the third subject. She is a 55 year old Caucasian of Scottish heritage. Her mothers side of the family is of German Descent and her fathe rs side is of Scottish descent. She is strongly identified with her heritage and culture as all of her family on both sides were born and lived in West Virginia. Her mother was one of six siblings her father an only child. This subject was the oldest of three siblings. The extended family unit was active in the same church and participated in many of the same social activities. They took family vacations and were together for most holidays and birthdays. Her father and granddad were both professionals her grandfather worked as a teacher, her father as an engineer. Both her grandmother and mother were homemakers. English is the only language spoken in this family. To protect health, this family used a combination of folk remedies and primary physician care. Both she and her siblings were immunized as babies and received yearly physical and dental exams.However, prior to want medical care for health restoration, her grandmother and mother would utilize herbal and folk remedies to inc lude warm salt water gargle for sore throat, imperturbable compresses to reduce fever, or eucalyptus salve combined with inhaling steam for upper respiratory infections. Mineral oilwas used to relieve ear aches and baking pop music was dissolved mixed with warm water and then drank to cure indigestion. Hot chicken soup was a cure all for any type of sickness. intellectual nourishment was also an important part of health maintenance for this family. Her grandmother maintained a large garden and several fruit trees. She preserved every mixed bag of vegetable and fruit and taught this skill to the subject. The family also would tie in together to purchase a whole dismay and have it butchered. Meals were simple and wholesome.Exercise in this family was not structured but every member participated in some type of physical activity through school, work or church. In conclusion, all three families interviewed have similar health traditions. Two of the three have strong religious tra ditions. All three use herbal and folk remedies in often the same way. The interviews revealed a pattern of change in tradition that appears to be based on education, and entranceway to western based medicine. As the family units evolved through marriage, immigration, or education, their reliance on western medicine increased. However, the use of folk remedies were not completely abandoned and act to be viewed as an important component in achieving and maintaining wellness. By including the health traditions in the nursing plan of care and teaching, the needs of the whole person can be addressed Culturally competent nursing is achieved.ReferencesLeininger, M. (1978). Transcultural nursing Concepts, theories and practice. New York Wiley. Spector, R. E. (2000). CultureCare Guide to heritage assessment and health traditions (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson command/PH College.