Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness

by Spector, Rachel E.

• ISBN13: 9780135035894
• ISBN10: 0135035899
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-09
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

The seventh edition of this well-respected book continues to promote an awareness of the dimensions and complexities involved in caring for people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Completely revised and updated, it examines the differences existing within North America by probing the health care system and consumers, and examples of traditional health beliefs and practices among selected populations. An emphasis on the influences of recent social, political, and demographic changes helps to explore the issues and perceptions of health and illness today. An essential for any health-care professional, this book sets the standard for cultural perspectives.

Author Biography

Dr. Rachel E. Spector has been a student of culturally diverse HEALTH and ILLNESS beliefs and practices for 35 years and has researched and taught courses on culture and HEALTH care for the same time span. Dr. Spector has had the opportunity to work in many different communities, including the American Indian and Hispanic communities in Boston, Massachusetts. Her studies have taken her to many places: most of the United States, Canada, and Mexico; several European countries, including Denmark, England, Finland, Iceland, Italy, France, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland; Israel and Pakistan; and Australia and New Zealand. She was fortunate enough to collect traditional amulets and remedies from many of these diverse communities and to meet practitioners of traditional HEALTH care in several places. She was instrumental in the creation and presentation of the exhibit “Immigrant HEALTH Traditions” at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, May 1994 through January 1995. She and has exhibited HEALTH-related objects in several other settings. Recently, she served as a Colaboradora Honorifica (Honorary Collaborator) in the University of Alicante in Alicante, Spain, and Tamulipus, Mexico. In 2006, she was a Lady Davis Fellow in the Henrietta Zold-Hadassah Hebrew University School of Nursing in Jerusalem, Israel. This text was translated into Spanish by Maria Munoz and published in Madrid by Prentice Hall as Las Culturas de la SALUD in 2003. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a Scholar in Transcultural Nursing Society. The Massachusetts Association of Registered Nurses, the state organization of the American Nurses’ Association, honored her as a “Living Legend” in 2007. In 2008 she was recognized by the American Nurses’ Association for her work in Human Rights.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
A Word about Health	p. xxii
Cultural Foundations	p. 1
Cultural Heritage and History	p. 3
National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care	p. 7
Cultural Competence	p. 8
Linguistic Competence	p. 8
CulturalCare	p. 9
Heritage Consistency	p. 9
Acculturation Themes	p. 18
Ethnocultural Life Trajectories	p. 20
Commingling Variables	p. 22
Cultural Conflict	p. 23
Cultural Phenomena Affecting Health	p. 24
Diversity	p. 31
Census 2000	p. 32
Immigration	p. 36
Poverty	p. 42
Health and Illness	p. 48
Health	p. 49
Illness	p. 62
Health Domains	p. 71
Health Traditions	p. 74
Health and Illness	p. 76
Health Traditions Model	p. 77
Health Protection	p. 80
Health/Health Care Choices	p. 87
Folk Medicine	p. 88
Health/Health Care Philosophies	p. 95
Healing Traditions	p. 107
Healing	p. 108
Ancient Forms of Healing	p. 110
Religion and Healing	p. 111
Healing and Today's Beliefs	p. 125
Ancient Rituals Related to the Life Cycle	p. 127
Familial Health Traditions	p. 147
Familial Health/Health Traditions	p. 149
Consciousness Raising	p. 160
Health Care Delivery and Issues	p. 167
The Health Care Provider's Culture	p. 168
Health Care Costs	p. 173
Trends in Development of the Health Care System	p. 181
Common Problems in Health Care Delivery	p. 186
Pathways to Health Services	p. 189
Barriers to Health Care	p. 191
Medicine as an Institution of Social Control	p. 193
Health and Illness Panoramas	p. 201
Health and Illness in the American Indian and Alaska Native Population	p. 204
Background	p. 205
Traditional Definitions of Health and Illness	p. 208
Traditional Methods of Healing	p. 210
Current Health Care Problems	p. 217
The Indian Health Service	p. 223
Health and Illness in the Asian Populations	p. 231
Background	p. 232
Traditional Definitions of Health and Illness	p. 234
Traditional Methods of Health Maintenance and Protection	p. 240
Traditional Methods of Health Restoration	p. 240
Current Health Problems	p. 250
Health and Illness in the Black Population	p. 258
Background	p. 259
Traditional Definitions of Health and Illness	p. 264
Traditional Methods of Health Maintenance and Protection	p. 265
Traditional Methods of Health Restoration	p. 265
Current Health Problems	p. 270
Health and Illness in the Hispanic Populations	p. 283
Background	p. 284
Mexicans	p. 286
Puerto Ricans	p. 300
Health and Illness in the White Populations	p. 315
Background	p. 316
German Americans	p. 319
Italian Americans	p. 321
Polish Americans	p. 326
Health Status of White Population	p. 331
Epilogue	p. 337
Selected Key Terms Related to Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness	p. 346
Calendar: Religious Holidays That Change Dates	p. 355
Suggested Course Outline	p. 357
Suggested Course Activity-Urban Hiking	p. 363
Heritage Assessment Tool	p. 365
Quick Guide for Cultural Care	p. 368
Data Resources	p. 370
Bibliography	p. 375
Index	p. 395
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