Heritage Assessment Tool
Heritage Assessment Tool: Varying Cultures
Grand Canyon University: NRS 429V
Heritage Assessment Tool: Varying Cultures
Introduction
The Heritage Assessment Tool is designed to “give nurses an understanding of the patient’s traditional health and illness beliefs and practices so that culturally appropriate interventions can be initiated. The tool is a series of twenty nine questions. These twenty nine questions are designed to determine a patient’s ethnic, cultural, and religious background,” (Flowers, D.L., 2005). Within this paper, the author will summarize the assessment results of three different families, all varying in ethnic backgrounds and culture. These results will then be used to elaborate on how a nurse would incorporate health promotion based on the findings of the traditions between the varying cultures.
Varying Health Maintenance
Two of the families the writer interviewed shared similar values when it comes to health maintenance. One family was of the Hispanic background and the other family was of the American Indian background. Each of these families placed values in their family relationships as well as their support system and their overall health maintenance. Both families expressed about the relationships of their extended family. They met with their family at least once a week and had big family dinners. They did not just get together for holidays or big celebrations. As Askim-Lovesth & Aldana puts it into words, “in an extended family network all family members are expected to help each other during difficult times, and provide aid in case of health or financial problems” (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). Each of these cultures did just that, they used their family as a shoulder to lean on. The third family interviewed, a Caucasian couple of German background, had very different values when it came to their own family system. Both members of this family grew up in single parent families. These two
Grand Canyon University: NRS 429V
Heritage Assessment Tool: Varying Cultures
Introduction
The Heritage Assessment Tool is designed to “give nurses an understanding of the patient’s traditional health and illness beliefs and practices so that culturally appropriate interventions can be initiated. The tool is a series of twenty nine questions. These twenty nine questions are designed to determine a patient’s ethnic, cultural, and religious background,” (Flowers, D.L., 2005). Within this paper, the author will summarize the assessment results of three different families, all varying in ethnic backgrounds and culture. These results will then be used to elaborate on how a nurse would incorporate health promotion based on the findings of the traditions between the varying cultures.
Varying Health Maintenance
Two of the families the writer interviewed shared similar values when it comes to health maintenance. One family was of the Hispanic background and the other family was of the American Indian background. Each of these families placed values in their family relationships as well as their support system and their overall health maintenance. Both families expressed about the relationships of their extended family. They met with their family at least once a week and had big family dinners. They did not just get together for holidays or big celebrations. As Askim-Lovesth & Aldana puts it into words, “in an extended family network all family members are expected to help each other during difficult times, and provide aid in case of health or financial problems” (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). Each of these cultures did just that, they used their family as a shoulder to lean on. The third family interviewed, a Caucasian couple of German background, had very different values when it came to their own family system. Both members of this family grew up in single parent families. These two
References: Askim-Lovseth, M., & Aldana, A. (2010). Looking beyond "affordable" health care: cultural understanding and sensitivity-necessities in addressing the health care disparities of the U.S. Hispanic population. Health Marketing Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058099?dopt=Abstract. Edelman, Carol Lium, Mandle, Carol Lynn (2009). Health Promotion Throughout the Life Span [7] (VitalSource Bookshelf). Flowers, D.L. (2009). Culturally Competent Nursing Care for American Indian Clients in a Critical Care Setting. Critical Care Nurse. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=Link&db=pubmed&dbFrom=PubMed&from_uid=8852267. Mier, N., Ory, M., Toobert, D., Smith, M., Osuna, D., McKay, J., & ... Rimer, B. (2010). A Qualitative Case Study Examining Intervention Tailoring For Minorities. American Journal of Health Behavior. Retrieved from http://www.med.upenn.edu/psych/articles_2010.html.