Question

In a 2-3 page paper discuss how health and illness beliefs can influence the assessment process. You can use the Table on Traditional Health and Illness Beliefs in your textbook or any other evidence-based sources. Include how belief structure might impact how a client responds to an assessment interview and how culture might influence physical findings. Your assignment must have accurate spelling and grammar and use APA Editorial Format.

Answer 1

Health and illness can have a great influence in the assessment process. The beliefs of community people have a profound effect on their health and well being. Traditional health beliefs can be related to their lifestyle, food habits, daily activities and so on. This can be harmful or harmless to health. Illness can either be prevented with such beliefs or be elevated. At times, the health care providers feel these traditional health beliefs among community people as a hurdle towards providing complete health care or treatment.

The modern health care providers need to have detailed and specific knowledge regarding these traditional health practices. This may help them in engaging in health care activities as per the community needs without harming their local beliefs and traditions. The health care team even can play an important role in eradicating harmful health beliefs among people by educating them and spreading awareness regarding such beliefs.

Provider-Patient inter-personal communication involves orientation, planning, goals, interventions, implementation and evaluation. This sort of communication involves exchange of cultural ideas and beliefs and thus the provider may come to know the client's requirements and his cultural background. The care provider may set his goals based on these needs of the client, thus not harming his cultural side. The patient may also thus involve himself/herself directly in seeking care from the provider.

The provider must first recognize himself in a dominant role but should not dominate himself on the client. This might hurt the patient's cultural sentiments and he might not involve himself/herself in the care. The provider should thrust his/her cultural beliefs and traditional practices over the client, rather should be a patient listener to the client. Failure in recognizing his/her role as a provider, may also block the provider's ability to consider the patient's views and ideas in treatment process. so, this always has to be a two way process between provider & patient.

Patient's ofetn use more than one way of problem solving, the provider must consider the same. For example, the client may seek bio-medical treatment but at the same time may also indulge in meditation or spiritual life. The provider should also keep this in view, and hence allow the patient to seek multiple ways of seeking relief from illness until it is not harmful for him/her. It depends on the client, that how much he feels the patient education and care culturally relevant and the extent to which he will respond to it and perceive it.

Each ethnic group brings its own perspectives and beliefs to the heath care system.There are several important cultural beliefs that the care providers especially the nurse must be aware of while serving in cross cultural settings. There might be many things the patients wouldn't like to be asked as a part of general assessment/examination, this has to be identifed by the nurse, previously itself. Such mis understandings and expectations may create differences between providers and patients from different backgrounds. The more the nurse and care providers learn about their patients, the more effective the treatment process would be.