Culture and Health

623 words | 3 page(s)

To promote good rapport with clients, clinicians should sound positive and encouraging while interacting with clients. Throwing words of assurance on a client’s well-being will automatically make them likable. Clinicians should be confident while recommending on remedies (MacLachlan, 2016: 163). Having some health conditions is associated with shame from which clients may want to hide. Infections such as AIDs can bring shame to the families of clients, thus difficult in admitting publicly that they suffer from such infections. Society has come up with status for people suffering from abnormal medical conditions. Such status, if discriminatory, will make clients shy from explaining their problems to medical care personnel. Stigma originating from culture may be a major contributory factor to why clients may shy from seeking medical attention for the fear of being looked down upon (MacLachlan, 2016: 171).

In my view, the multicultural approach is the best perspective in client-clinician interaction. This is because it combines both features of cross-cultural and transcultural care, thus giving medical care services that are both sensitive and correct for every cultural set up. This in turn promotes wider availability of medical services relative to when any of the other two approaches is used (MacLachlan, 2016: 202). Of the three approaches, cross-cultural care least fits my opinion. This is because the perspective stresses little on a clinician’s consciousness of client culture. Without acknowledging the client culture, effective closure of the cultural gap between clients and clinicians may not be achieved effectively. This in turn creates uncertainty on how well the interaction between the two will be.

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Consequently, failure to recognize a client’s culture may be the main cause of poor client-clinician interaction leading to low utilization of health care resources (MacLachlan, 2016: 202). Of all the pathways to wellness, having a sense of control over one’s fate is the most important in preventing illness. This pathway fosters personal freedom that enables people to personally determine their health. At the end of day, health issues start at the personal level, and it is individual decisions that matter more. Additionally, empowering minorities will give them freedom and a voice against cultural barriers to good health (MacLachlan, 2016: 239). Due to diversity in cultural values, people may believe in and submit to supernatural forces as a way of acquiring personal control. Others may make use of the belief that they are the sole determinants of their future and nobody else but themselves has the power to influence their well-being in future (MacLachlan, 2016: 240).

In response to UNESCO’s recommendations, I will use awareness techniques that are universal and appeal to all communities and all classes of people in those communities. For instance, the use of written materials that can be read in private. The techniques should not discriminate HIV/AIDS patients as it is against human rights. I would also separate males and females when giving gender sensitive information. This will be necessary since HIV/AIDS affects both genders differently. I will also design techniques that are age sensitive since not all methods will appeal across all ages. To make awareness community inclusive, I will train and recruit a few community members to help in awareness projects (MacLachlan, 2016: 281).

For long, child deaths have been associated with poverty, ignorance, and poor health. However, unexpected deaths among the girl child even in rich families has brought the attention of culturally motivated gender inequality where the boy child is considered superior. Consequently, the girl child is left to die in unclear circumstances (MacLachlan, 2016: 268). Another key topic of interest involves the way different cultures view intellectual disability. Many cultures stigmatize people with intellectual issues. This has the effect of worsening the condition since stigmatization results in low self-esteem. In other words, culture has a way of worsening disabilities through alienation of victims (MacLachlan, 2016: 270).

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