Cross cultural approaches to healthcare delivery

Cross-Cultural Healthcare

To what extent do you think cultural beliefs, values, and traditions may impact health education efforts? Please provide examples that apply to the case studies from the video.

For first generation immigrants, I believe that the influence of cultural beliefs, traditions, and values is very strong. When dealing with complex medical issues that may not be well understood within their cultural context, it is normal coping behavior to fall back on what is familiar and what those people who are valued believe in or pressure their family members to comply with what the traditions and beliefs to which they cling. The religious belief that surgery would mutilate Justine for all eternity is a tough challenge for a medical team to address, particularly when the underlying belief is that avoiding the scarring that surgery would cause, even if it meant a shorter natural life, was the preferred choice.

The most striking example in the videos of the power of traditional beliefs was the grandmother's insistence that the mother try native alternative medicine to cure the hole in her granddaughter's heart. First, the family held a ceremony complete with food and flower offerings to appeal to their ancestors to mediate for the little Justine's condition. Later, the family took Justine to the Lao Temple for a religious ceremony, prayer, and intervention by the priests.

2. To what extent do you think cultural beliefs, values, and traditions may enhance health education efforts? Please provide examples that apply to the case studies from the video.

Justine's family and Mrs. Mercado sought to reconcile the modern medical interventions that the physicians and the healthcare team were presenting with their traditional beliefs in treatments based on religion or folk medicine. The fact that Justine's family and Alicia Mercado sought medical intervention is a demonstration that they believe in treatment and interventions, although they clearly preferred folk medicine. Strong religious faith can be leveraged on behalf of modern medicine as well as it can be leveraged for traditional or alternative medical practices.

An additional cultural factor that may be a benefit to the practice of modern medicine with people who have strong cultural values, beliefs, and traditions is the tendency to honor wisdom and authority. When patients look up to their healthcare providers, they are inclined to at least listen to explanations about treatment options and to have core interest in working with the medical personnel to come up solutions or options that don't violate their strong traditional values.

3. In terms of communicating with patients of different cultures, what did the health professionals in the video clips do well?

The healthcare professionals in the video demonstrated patience at every turn and listened deeply and respectfully to the family members' concerns. There was a wide cultural divide between the medical professionals and the families, particularly with regard to the older generation. No disparaging remarks or non-verbal communication occurred that would signal to the family members that they were not respected or that their beliefs were seen as foolish. The medical professionals permitted and encouraged discussion about factors in the lives of their patients that were not directly related to the health problems for which they were receiving treatment. To ensure that communication would occur as well as possible, the healthcare personnel arranged for translators. It was very important for the discussion to occur in the native language as the topics that needed to be covered were complex and potentially frightening to the patients and their families.

4. What suggestions would you make to help the health professionals improve their cross-cultural communication skills with these patients?