Cultural Differences and Medicine

We live in a country filled with many different cultural backgrounds and beliefs. What happens when one's background and beliefs prevent them from getting the proper health care treatment?

The Islamic believe that illness is a trial placed on them by Allah to test their piety and devotion and that they must endure the pain with no complaints (Hussain, 2001). So most will not seek out medical attention for fears of shaming themselves and their families. Hispanics are more likely to believe that their illnesses are caused by supernatural forces. They may feel that they are either being punished by God for a lack of faith or that they are being hexed (Feldman, 2006). This may also make them lack any motivation in wanting to visit a doctor. Some Hispanics believe in "hot and cold" diseases and conditions.Cold conditions include: menstrual cramps, pneumonia, and colic. Hot conditions include: pregnancies, hypertension, diabetes, and acid indigestion. Cold conditions are treated with hot medications and hot conditions are treated with cold medications in order to bring the individuals body back into its proper balance (Kemp, 2005).Because many illnesses have similar symptoms and they are trying to diagnose themselves, they might not realize until it is too late that their acid indegestion might actually be heart disease. The immigrated Chinese also face many cultural difficulties when it comes to adequate health care in the U.S. Because of cultural stereotypes the Chinese are often looked at as having an extremely healthy lifestyle, which means they are not routinely checked for seriously harmful diseases and certain cancers that others are routinely checked for. Because of that they are not being diagnosed with illnesses early enough, which means their chances of survival are slimmer than they would have been if their illnesses were caught early (Feng, 2001). Chinese immigrants have also reported feeling frustrated and embarrassed because they could not communicate their problems to their physicians, and this causes them to stop seeking health care altogether (Feng,2001).

Health care providers are becoming increasingly sensitive to others cultural beliefs. They are hiring more qualified workers and many speak more than one language. The health care industry is now offering classes to its current and future employees where they learn others cultural beliefs and how to treat them.

Health care providers need to remember to be sensitive to others beliefs. They should be patient and they should explain everything to others in a clear manner. The fact of the matter is that no one wants to feel sick, everyone does want to get better. If there is clear understanding between patient and provider, then there can be a happy medium that can be met somewhere.

References

Feldman,R.S.(2006). Development Across the Lifespan (4th Edition). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Feng,C.(2002).Merging Chinese Traditional Medicine into the American Health System. Journal of Young Investigators 5www.jyi.org/volumes/volumes6/issue5/features/feng.html.

Hussain,A.(2001).Islamic Beliefs and mental health. Retrieved on February 16 2006, from www.findarticles.com.

Kemp,C.(2005).Mexican & Mexican-Americans: Health beliefs and practices. Hispanic Health. http://www3.Baylor.edu/Charleskemp/Hispanic.htm