Cultural Self-Awareness

Cultural Self-Awareness

Introduction

Cultural self- awareness is crucial in the nursing profession, especially when dealing with indigenous communities. Understanding where they come from, their cultural beliefs and practices are vital. This will enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of health care. Members of the community may have poor health-seeking behaviour based on their beliefs. So to meet these people and assist them, one must ensure they provide a culturally safe environment for them to express their ideologies freely.

The Role of Self Awareness in Achieving Cultural Safety

Self-awareness is vital in achieving cultural safety. I am a Filipino, and there are various cultural practices in my community that affects health-seeking behaviour. The Philippine indigenous communities’ health practices are primarily based on their belief in religion and mystical powers. They believe that disease is caused by mystical, religious, natural and hereditary causes. Mystical causes are due to punishment from ancestors as a result of a wrong deed performed by an individual or members of the community. They also believe that punishments can be brought by evil spirits (manga ga mud) and witches (herbularyo). To revert this, prayers can be offered by sorcerers and people restored. Filipinos’ have a strong religious background and believe strongly in God. When faced with calamities and sickness, some think that it was predestinated by God to happen (kaloob ng Diyos). Natural causes such as thunder and lightning are also considered to be a cause of disease among members of this community. They also believe in the hot and cold concept where disease can occur as a result of an imbalance in the temperature changes. Hereditary causes are due to transmission of diseases or behavioural traits from one generation to another. They refer to is as namamana. The severity of the symptoms influences health-seeking behaviour. Community members, when sick pray and also visit traditional healers. When the disease process appears severe, they consult with other senior members of the family before they can decide to go to the hospital (Shewamene, Dune & Smith, 2019).

My feeling towards my communities’ cultural beliefs and practices is that it is a backward approach. This is because seeking medical attention from the hospital is their last resort when they are ill. This is not advantageous to the health of the community members and puts their lives at risk. Some of their good cultural belief practices include their belief on the hereditary nature of the disease process. It is scientifically proven that some diseases such as sickle cell disease is autosomal recessive and can be transmitted to the children if both parents have the disease or the trait. However, they lack a basis because they are not knowledgeable about which diseases can be hereditary acquired and which ones cannot. Some of their unhealthy cultural practices include; their unbalanced belief in mystical powers and religion as causes of illness. This is because their ideas have a bearing on their health-seeking behaviour. If a particular disease is thought to be caused by ancestors, then they will seek help from witches and sorcerers to avert the curse from the ancestors. They will, therefore, pour libation and wear protective amulets to protect them from the evil. If they believe that it is God who has caused a particular disease, the only thing they will do is to pray and hope that God will cure them of that specific disease. Their health-seeking behaviour is also influenced by many people. They don’t go to the hospital as a first resort when sick. This can worsen their medical condition and even cause death when they take too long to go to the hospital. Let us, for instance, imagine that a child has nephroblastoma stage 1 disease, and they have developed abdominal swelling, which is increasing gradually over time. The parents might take a long time taking the child to herbalists and witch doctors and consulting with other family members. This may cause the stage of the disease to progress such that by the time they are seeking health care, the disease has already advanced.

As a nurse, understanding the cultural beliefs of my community members is crucial. By understanding their belief in mystical powers, religion and natural causes, I can reach to them at their level. When convincing them to seek health care, I can incorporate scientific knowledge to their cultural beliefs—for example, trying to explain to them how their cold concept is linked to pneumonia but also informing them of bacterial and viral organisms which have been proven to cause the disease and thus their need to go to the hospital. I will achieve this by creating a culture safe environment where I do not judge their beliefs but try to use them to encourage health-seeking behaviour.

Conclusion

To reach the indigenous community of the Philippines, creating a culturally safe environment is crucial. This is possible by understanding their cultural beliefs and practices and how it affects their health-seeking behaviour. To improve their health-seeking behaviour, one can incorporate what they believe in and the scientific basis and make them understand why it is crucial to seek health care services early.

Reference

Shewamene, Z., Dune, T., & Smith, C. (2019). The influence of traditional health practices and beliefs on health-seeking behaviour. Advances In Integrative Medicine, 6, S41-S42. doi: 10.1016/j.aimed.2019.03.121