In an essay of 1,000-1,250 words, discuss the following: Define culture What elements make up a person’s culture?

In an essay of 1,000-1,250 words, discuss the following: Define culture What elements make up a person’s culture? Describe how those elements of culture affect a person’s perception of health, health

The purpose of this assignment is to discuss the influences of culture on various facets of public health.

Understanding culture and diversity is essential to the field of public health. It is natural for public health professionals to interpret and respond to health issues based on their own cultural perspectives. This individual perspective may influence the view of health in other cultures, including issues such as health education and policy.

In an essay of 1,000-1,250 words, discuss the following:

1. Define culture What elements make up a person’s culture? Describe how those elements of culture affect a person’s perception of health, health decision-making, and health behaviors.
2. Describe the relationship between social determinants of health and health disparities and explain how the social determinants of health affect public health behaviors.
3. Describe the difference between cultural competency and diversity. Explain why culture and cultural competence in public health is important.
4. Discuss what personal cultural elements affect your own health behaviors and health decision making.
5. Reflect on your own cultural competence. How might your own cultural or personal biases affect your perception of other cultures and their health behaviors? What are your areas of strength and what are some areas for improvement? Describe at least one strategy you will apply to improve your own cultural competence skills.
6. Describe at least two additional strategies (different from your personal strategy) that public health professionals can implement to improve their cultural competence as they work to decrease health disparities and improve the health of diverse populations.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

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Expert Answer and Explanation

Impact of Culture on Various Facets of Public Health

Healthcare professionals interact with patients from diverse background, and to meet the needs of these patients, they need to understand how patients’ cultural beliefs and values influence their health including the patient care outcomes. In healthcare, the concept of cultural competence is crucial in the sense that it helps address issues like cultural misunderstanding which impede provider-patient interaction, resulting to poor health outcomes (Leijen & van Herk, 2021). Part of the provider’s journey towards being culturally competent involves learning the meaning of culture including how it relates to the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH).

Definition of Culture and the Elements that Constitute Culture including their Impact on one’s Perception of Health, Decision-Making, and Health Behaviors

Culture denotes the way of life of individuals that they express in terms of how they communicate, mark events, and propagate norms, and in which they adopt shared beliefs, values and practices that shape and characterize their collective identity (Leijen & van Herk, 2021). Based on this definition, it is evident that culture has various aspects or elements, with each element affecting how individuals perceive health, decision-making and health behavior.

As part of the components of culture, the beliefs denote people’s perception of reality, which impact individuals’ perception of right or wrong. In the context of health and wellness, for example, the belief tied to one’s religious teachings that portray the human body as the temple of God, may lead to negative perception of behaviors like smoking. Accordingly, this kind of belief may shape one’s health-seeking behavior, impacting how they make decisions.

The language, which is the other element of culture, also affects health. Regarding the perception of health, the impact of language is seen in a scenario in which a particular culture describes illness or health status using specific words or terminologies. Individuals from this culture may understand health differently compared to people that speak a different language. If a patient is unable to speak the provider’s language, this may cause miscommunication, resulting to lack of adherence to prescription information or physician instructions. Furthermore, the inability of the patient to receive provider’s instruction due to language barrier exposes the patient to the risk of engaging in health-risk behaviors because of limited understanding of the impact of certain behaviors on health.

How the Social Determinants of Health Relate to the Health Disparities

One’s neighborhood, their educational status, and income, which are collectively known as the SDOH, relate to the health disparities. This relationship plays out in a scenario in which low-income households face challenges accessing essential health services while financially stable families have access to these services. With this kind of a scenario, people from poor households are likely to experience poor health outcomes such as high rates of medical complications (Latif, 2020). The same scenario plays out in a situation in which a section of the population is educated while the other lacks education.

The Impact of the Social Determinants of Health on Public Health Behaviors

Certain aspects of the SDOH determine people’s health behaviors, impacting public health outcomes. The stress linked to joblessness or one’s inability to meet their needs or the needs of their dependents, can drive them into using controlled substances as a coping mechanism. Similarly, the lack of proper diet as a result of poverty exposes individuals to the risk of weight gain which is associated with disorders like diabetes (Chelak & Chakole, 2023). In addition, experiencing discrimination may cause victims to have distrust for the government, resulting to low public participation in vaccination or other government-managed public health initiatives.

How Cultural Competency Differs from Diversity and The Importance of Culture and Cultural Competence in Public Health

Diversity differs from cultural competency in the sense that it represents the variances in people’s ethnicities, race, gender, age and sexual or religious orientation, and it focuses on acknowledging these differences. For its part, cultural competency denotes the provider’s ability to effectively work with culturally different persons, demonstrating fairness in terms of how they engage all patients irrespective of the patients’ cultural identity or views.

Within the public health domain, the two concepts are important in the sense that they help address the divide in people’s access to health care (Stubbe, 2020). A provider, for instance, may demonstrate competency in working with different cultures, and respect for diversity by involving a translator to translate for the patient. This kind of intervention reduces disparity by allowing the patient to have equal chance of clinical assessment.

The Personal Cultural Elements that Impact My Health Behaviors and how I make Decisions In Health Context

From a personal standpoint, the beliefs I hold shape my behaviors including the decisions I make that impact my health. These beliefs align with my culture which emphasizes respect for life. Considering my cultural beliefs and values, I adopt behaviors that promote wellness and good health. For instance, I meditate and practice yoga as part of the approach of achieving mental wellbeing. Guided by my cultural beliefs, I avoid behaviors like smoking which is health-harming.

Impact of my Personal Biases On How I Perceive Other Cultures and their Health Behaviors

My view about other cultures including how I perceive people from these cultures is dependent on my personal biases. One of the personal biases that I hold is that all people of Chinese descent are into the complementary and alternative medicine. This is an example of how a bias can cause one to stereotype or overgeneralize, limiting how they provide care to a patient of a Chinese descent (Chowdhury et al., 2022). Holding biases can limit me from empathizing with patients especially if the patient is male and they experiences pain.

Areas of Strength and Improvement

Reviewing my level of cultural competency, I would say I recognize the types of biases I hold. Despite this strength, I have limited knowledge of other cultures which may negatively affect my interaction with individuals from different cultures. Thus, I need to work on familiarizing myself with other cultures.

Strategy for Strengthening Cultural Competency Skills

To improve my knowledge about different cultures including their practices, I intend to use a strategy that involves attending a training program that trains on the beliefs, values and practices linked to specific cultural groups.

Two Strategies that Public Health Professionals Can Utilize as Part of the Process of Advancing their Cultural Competence

For the public health professionals, directly taking part in community-based initiatives is one of the ways in which they can advance their cultural competence skills. With this strategy, they get the opportunity to learn about the norms and practices of new cultures. An additional strategy is to undergo training in which they learn about cultural humility (Červený et al., 2022).

Conclusion

In conclusion, cultural competency is crucial to addressing issues like the divided in access to health services, and poor health outcomes in a segment of the public. Thus, providers should focus on strengthening their skills by learning about the meanings of culture and diversity including the means of demonstrating respect for respect of culture and diversity.

References

Červený, M., Kratochvílová, I., Hellerová, V., & Tóthová, V. (2022). Methods of increasing cultural competence in nurses working in clinical practice: A scoping review of literature 2011-2021. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 936181. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.936181.

Chelak, K., & Chakole, S. (2023). The Role of Social Determinants of Health in Promoting Health Equality: A Narrative Review. Cureus, 15(1), e33425. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.33425.

Chowdhury, D., Baiocco-Romano, L., Sacco, V., El Hajj, K., & Stolee, P. (2022). Cultural Competence Interventions for Health Care Providers Working With Racialized Foreign-born Older Adults: Protocol for a Systematic Review. JMIR research protocols, 11(7), e31691. https://doi.org/10.2196/31691.

Latif, A. S. (2020). The Importance of Understanding Social and Cultural Norms in Delivering Quality Health Care-A Personal Experience Commentary. Tropical medicine and infectious disease, 5(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed5010022.

Leijen, I., & van Herk, H. (2021). Health and Culture: The Association between Healthcare Preferences for Non-Acute Conditions, Human Values and Social Norms. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(23), 12808. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312808.

Stubbe D. E. (2020). Practicing Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility in the Care of Diverse Patients. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 18(1), 49–51. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20190041.