Chapter 09

Cultural Diversity

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 9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race
• Health care workers work with and care for
many different people
• Respect individuality
• Be aware of factors that make each person
unique
• Influence of cultural/ethnic heritage

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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Culture
– Values, beliefs, attitudes, language, symbols,
rituals, behaviors, and customs unique to a
particular group of people
– Passed from one generation to next
– Often defined set of rules
– Foundation of behavior, but variances

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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Culture is
– Learned
– Shared
– Social in nature
– Dynamic and constantly changing

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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Ethnicity
– Classification of people based on national origin
and/or culture
– Share common heritage, geographic location,
national origin, social customs, language, beliefs
– Subgroups within larger ethnic groups

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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Ethnic groups include
– African American
– Asian/Pacific Islander
– European American
– Hispanic American
– Middle Eastern/Arabic American
– Native American
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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Race is based on physical or biological factors
– Color of skin, hair, and eyes
– Facial features
– Blood type
– Bone structure
• Race cuts across multiple ethnic/cultural
groups
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 9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Differences among people resulting from
cultural, ethnic, and racial factors are called
cultural diversity
– Influence a person’s behavior
• Differences exist within ethnic/cultural groups
• United States is striving to be a “salad bowl”

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9:1 Culture, Ethnicity, and Race (continued)
• Cultural assimilation
– Newly arrived group adopts ways of new culture
• Acculturation
– Process of learning the beliefs and behaviors of a
dominant culture and assuming some of its
characteristics
• Sensitivity
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9:2 Bias, Prejudice, and Stereotyping

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 9:2 Bias, Prejudice, and Stereotyping
(continued)

• Prejudice
– Strong feeling or belief about a person or subject
without reviewing facts or information; often
based on fear
• Stereotyping
– Making the assumption that everyone in a group
is the same

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 9:2 Bias, Prejudice, and Stereotyping
(continued)

• Create barriers to effective relationships

• Health care workers need to avoid acting on
feelings and assumptions
• Consider ways to avoid bias, prejudice, and
stereotyping

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 9:3 Understanding Cultural Diversity
• Cultural and ethnic beliefs will affect behavior
• Health care workers need to be aware of
these beliefs to meet the physical, social,
emotional, and mental needs of individuals
• Holistic care
– Well-being of the whole person

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 Family Organization
• Nuclear
• Extended
• Patriarchal versus matriarchal
• Recognition and acceptance of family
organization is essential in all aspects of the
health care field

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 Language
• English is dominant U.S. language
– Many other languages spoken in United States
• Determine any language needs
• Find an interpreter if necessary
• Medical permission form must usually be
printed in a patient’s language

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 Personal Space and Touch
• Personal space or territorial space
– Distance people require for comfortable
interaction
• Different cultural norms
– Close contact
– Distant contact

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 Eye Contact
• Affected by cultural beliefs
• May indicate interest, trustworthiness
• May also be considered rude, hostile, or
threatening
• Be aware of a patient’s comfort level

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 Gestures
• Used to communicate
• Gestures differ by culture
– Nodding the head for yes and no
– Pointing
• Be aware of a patient’s response to gestures

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 Health Care Beliefs
• Western biomedical system
• Beliefs affect responses to health care and
understanding of illness/treatment
• Refer to Table 9-1 in Text for common beliefs
• Alternative health care

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 Health Care Beliefs (continued)
• Alternative health care methods
– Nutritional
– Mind and body control
– Energetic touch therapy
– Body-movement methods
– Spiritual methods

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 Spirituality and Religion
• Spirituality
– Beliefs about self, connections with others,
relationship with higher power
– Need to find meaning in life
• Religion
– Organized system of belief
– Refer to Table 9-2 in Text
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 Spirituality and Religion (continued)
• Religion (continued)
– Monotheists
– Polytheists
– Atheists
– Agnostics

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 9:4 Respecting Cultural Diversity
• Regard each individual as unique
• Everyone adopts beliefs and forms a pattern
of behavior based on culture, ethnicity, race,
life experiences, spirituality, and religion
• Health care workers must learn to respect
differences among individuals

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May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.