Culture and Health Promotion
Running head: CULTURE AND HEALTH TRADITIONS
Culture and Health Traditions
Robyn Prather
Grand Canyon University
Family Centered Health Promotion
NRS 429v
Kathryn Kollowa
February 04, 2012
Culture and Health Traditions Madeline Leininger is the nurse and anthropologist who first developed the theory of addressing the needs of the whole person within their culture, heritage and traditions. Her book, Transcultural Nursing: Concepts, Theories, and Practice (1978), gave rise to an area of nursing practice that has become known as transcultural care. Nurses continue to develop tools to assess the nature of an individual’s culture, traditions and heritage. The Heritage Assessment Tool, developed by Rachel Spector (2000, figure 6-1), identifies language preference, family dynamic, religious practices, educational background, and social standing. The information gathered from the heritage assessment combined with further dialog will allow the nurse to implement an indivualized, culturally competent plan of care. The heritage assessment tool was utilized as part of a series of interviews comparing the health traditions of subjects from three different cultures. The focus of the interview was health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration.
Subject one is a 46 year old Hispanic female. Her paternal great-grandmother was born in a small village in Spain. Her maternal great-grand father’s was born in Mexico. It is interesting to note that while she has both Mexican and Spanish lineage, she most strongly identified with the Spanish side of her heritage. She clearly indicated she and her family spoke Castilian Spanish, not Mexican Spanish. Both sets of her grandparents and parents were born in the United States of America (U.S.A.). Her father and grandparents are bilingual, and come from a large family of 16 children. Her grandparents had very little formal education; her father attended school. Her mother was from a family of 4 children and
Culture and Health Traditions
Robyn Prather
Grand Canyon University
Family Centered Health Promotion
NRS 429v
Kathryn Kollowa
February 04, 2012
Culture and Health Traditions Madeline Leininger is the nurse and anthropologist who first developed the theory of addressing the needs of the whole person within their culture, heritage and traditions. Her book, Transcultural Nursing: Concepts, Theories, and Practice (1978), gave rise to an area of nursing practice that has become known as transcultural care. Nurses continue to develop tools to assess the nature of an individual’s culture, traditions and heritage. The Heritage Assessment Tool, developed by Rachel Spector (2000, figure 6-1), identifies language preference, family dynamic, religious practices, educational background, and social standing. The information gathered from the heritage assessment combined with further dialog will allow the nurse to implement an indivualized, culturally competent plan of care. The heritage assessment tool was utilized as part of a series of interviews comparing the health traditions of subjects from three different cultures. The focus of the interview was health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration.
Subject one is a 46 year old Hispanic female. Her paternal great-grandmother was born in a small village in Spain. Her maternal great-grand father’s was born in Mexico. It is interesting to note that while she has both Mexican and Spanish lineage, she most strongly identified with the Spanish side of her heritage. She clearly indicated she and her family spoke Castilian Spanish, not Mexican Spanish. Both sets of her grandparents and parents were born in the United States of America (U.S.A.). Her father and grandparents are bilingual, and come from a large family of 16 children. Her grandparents had very little formal education; her father attended school. Her mother was from a family of 4 children and
References: Leininger, M. (1978). Transcultural nursing: Concepts, theories and practice. New York: Wiley. Spector, R. E. (2000). CultureCare: Guide to heritage assessment and health traditions (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education/PH College.