HSCI715- Discussion Health and Healing

Hello Class,

I found the topic, health beliefs and practices, quite important in the discussion about the significance of cultural competence in healthcare. First of all, I agree with Spector (2017) that the foundational position of the United States legal framework is to accord every individual despite their cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, sexual orientation or religious background. Particularly, with reference to accessing healthcare, the position of the US government is to enable every person access quality care. However, this dream has not been attained yet. One of the crucial contributors to the disparities in care access in the US is existence of differentiated health beliefs and practices.

First of all, in times of illness, different people hold varying beliefs regarding whether to seek help from professionals, traditional experts or from the spiritual leaders. From a biblical point of view, I came across Reid and Matthews (2021) who cites the book of Luke which acknowledges the need for sick people to seek assistance. However, some people believe that God is the healer hence they should not go to hospital. Such a belief may pose serious problem in the contemporary times when even the authorities hold people accountable for their own health. As such, for a professional working with a patient who holds such a belief, the need to acknowledge that their belief does exist and that it should be appreciated even as a solution is sought is critical in the process of giving care to all.

Further exploration on the issue of beliefs and health practices illuminated the family effect on individual, family and community health. As Michaelson, Pilato and Davison (2021) note, family position on health also influence decision and behavior of people and ultimately their health. For example, Ho et al. (2022) argue that in a family, the parents determine health beliefs and practices of the children. These beliefs and practices may have positive or negative impacts on the health of the family members. For instance, a family that encourages health behaviors and healthy feeding may have a positive influence on the individual members’ health while one that holds detrimental beliefs may endanger the health wellbeing of the members. Towards the old age, however, children tend to have more autonomous positions over the health behaviors of their aged and ageing parents. They play an important role in making health decisions. As such, the recognition of health beliefs and systems influence how health providers and patients interact thus influences the access and quality of care.

In acknowledgement of the differences in beliefs and health practices, Specter (2017) states that health professionals need cultural competence. In this light, cultural competence broadens the perspective of health providers. It encourages acknowledgement of variances in beliefs and health practices. Aware and in appreciation of the variances, Margolis et al. (2021) argue that the communication between health providers and the patients as well as their caregivers is enhanced. The enhancement of communication emanates from change of attitude and acknowledgement of individual biases appreciated when on gains cultural competence. Such a professional acknowledges the difference and uses positive approaches even when there is need to change the perspective of a patient for better attainment of health outcomes.

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

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.