Liberty University

HSCI 715 Seminar Brief: Health and Healing

Cultural Competency in Health Sciences

Jonathan Giles

19th February 2023 

Seminar Brief: Health and Healing

The topic health beliefs and practices emerge as a critical concept in the discussion of holistic health and healing. As Spector (2017)notes, each individual comes from a family or background that has particular beliefs and practices about health and irrespective of the extent of enthusiasm that once has on these beliefs and practices, they influence individuals health. The influence ranges from daily practices that affect health to the perceptions people hold about health and to the responsibility that individuals take towards their own health and that of the people related to them. Ultimately, the traditional perspectives as well as the religious views influence health beliefs and practices and this influence has a significant effect on the holistic health.

As an opening to the discussion of health beliefs and practices, it is important to examine the biblical perspective of health. In his commentary of the book of Luke, Reid and Matthews (2021) argue that according to Luke 5:31, the people who are sick need a physician while the healthy ones do not. This aspect of Christian belief illuminates the acknowledgement that under normal circumstances falling ill is inevitable. However, when people fall ill, the Christian beliefs acknowledge the need to seek assistance from a professional (Lyon et al., 2019). While this may seem to agree with the contemporary health beliefs, some religious perspectives contradict the modern day perspectives of health. For example, one may come from a family that believes that ill-health is as a result of sin and healing comes from prayers. Holding on to this belief may influence decision making on whether to seek contemporary or even traditional healing practices when one falls ill.

Besides the religious perspective of health beliefs and practices, families also have their own traditions and perceptions about health. According to Michaelson, Pilato and Davison

(2021), a family unit has a health promoting role in the health wellbeing of the affected people. In their findings, Michaelson and associates found that families function as shield, belief system, guide and health promotion pillars in various societies. For example, parents take the responsibility of enhancing the health of their children. While this happens, the children take a passive role (Ho et al., 2022). However, in the old age some community groups place the role of promoting health for the parents on the children (Sun, 2016). As such, throughout the existence of the family unit, the family ends up playing a critical role in shaping the health of the individual family members.

Evidently, the beliefs systems and practices among various people differ. Some agree with the contemporary health beliefs and practices while others contradict them (Margolis et al., 2021). Even providers of health services have their own beliefs and practices about health. As a consequence, cultural competence fosters acknowledgement of these differences and also challenges people to appreciate the diversity. Even when there are contradictions, patience and appreciation of the diversified perspectives helps the health service providers to deliver services without discrimination. It also enables them to educate people against adverse beliefs and practices that are a detriment to individual, family and even community health.

References

Ho, Y. L., Mahirah, D., Ho, C. Z., & Thumboo, J. (2022). The role of the family in health promotion: A scoping review of models and mechanisms. Health Promotion

International, 37(6). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daac119

Lyon, M. E., D’Angelo, L. J., Cheng, Y. I., Dallas, R. H., Garvie, P. A., & Wang, J. (2019). The influence of religious beliefs and practices on health care decision-making among HIV positive adolescents. AIDS Care, 32(7), 896-

900. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2019.1668523

Margolis, S., Schwitzgebel, E., Ozer, D. J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2021). Empirical relationships among five types of well-being. Measuring Well-Being, 377-

407. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197512531.003.0014

Michaelson, V., Pilato, K. A., & Davison, C. M. (2021). Family as a health promotion setting: A scoping review of conceptual models of the health-promoting family. PLOS ONE, 16(4), e0249707. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249707

Reid, O. B., & Matthews, S. (2021). Wisdom commentary: Luke 10-24. Liturgical Press.

Spector, R. E. (2017). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Pearson.

Sun, R. (2016). Intergenerational age gaps and a family member’s well-being: A family systems approach. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 14(4), 320-

337. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2016.1229552