The Influence of Culture on Health Care Decisions
Culture may also affect the decision-making process. Cultural beliefs can affect how a patient will seek care and from whom, how he or she will manage self-care, how he will make health choices, and how she might respond to a specific therapy.
How do illness beliefs affect patients?
Beliefs have been implied to play an important role in living with illness since
they can be determinants of patients’ health behaviour in managing illness
[6, 7]. Previous research has shown that beliefs such as catastrophizing (constraining) and self-efficacy (facilitating) affect health in patients with CWP [8–10].
How values and beliefs affect health?
In addition, culture specific values influence patient roles and expectations, how much information about illness and treatment is desired, how death and dying will be managed, bereavement patterns, gender and family roles, and processes for decision making. Cross-cultural variations also exist within cultures.
How does religious beliefs affect health care?
Religious beliefs
cause patients to forego needed medical care, refuse life-saving procedures, and stop necessary medication, choosing faith instead of medicine
. Health Practitioners need to learn to respect the decisions that patients make based on their religious beliefs and not become offended or feel rejected.
How does previous health experiences affect health and illness?
Research shows that these events can
trigger emotional and even physical reactions that can make you more prone to a number of different health conditions, including heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes, and cancer
.
How can personal beliefs affect the care of patients?
5 Patients’ personal beliefs may be fundamental to their sense of well-being and
could help them to cope with pain or other negative aspects of illness or treatment
. They may also lead patients to ask for procedures which others may not feel are in their best clinical interests, or to refuse treatment which is.
What are some health practices and beliefs?
Preventive activities include immunization for childhood diseases, the use of protective clothing or sunscreen to prevent skin cancer, health-education and health-promotion programs, the use of automotive passenger restraints and bicycle helmets, chlorination of a community’s water supply, and safe-housing projects.
Why understanding the patient’s religious beliefs is important in medical practice?
Religion, belief and culture should be recognized in healthcare as
potential sources of moral purpose and personal strength amidst the experience of ill-health, healing, suffering and dying
. They should not be viewed solely or primarily as sources of problems in the delivery and reception of care.
How do beliefs influence culture?
Our values and beliefs influence our attitudes and therefore our behaviours
. Making our values and beliefs explicit is one of the first steps in culture change because talking about them helps us to become more aware of ‘how things are done around here’.
Should religious beliefs influence health matters?
Religion and spirituality can impact decisions regarding diet, medicines based on animal products, modesty, and the preferred gender of their health providers
. Some religions have strict prayer times that may interfere with medical treatment.
These are the guiding principles that help to put the interests of the individual receiving care or support at the centre of everything we do. Examples include:
individuality, independence, privacy, partnership, choice, dignity, respect and rights
.
What are some ways that your attitudes influence your health?
- A longer life span.
- Lower rates of depression.
- Less susceptibility to airborne illnesses such as colds.
- Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
How spiritual beliefs help or support health care practices?
Patients who are spiritual may utilize their beliefs in
coping with illness, pain, and life stresses
. Some studies indicate that those who are spiritual tend to have a more positive outlook and a better quality of life.
How religious beliefs and practices influence psychological functioning?
The persons with stronger religious faith have also reported
higher levels of life satisfaction, greater personal happiness and fewer negative psychosocial consequences of traumatic life events
. Religiosity is positively related to a number of measures of psychological well-being.
How health and disease are connected?
In the past health has been thought of as just the absence of disease, however today it is thought of more as the state of physical and mental wellbeing. Factors can work together to affect physical and mental health.
A disease is a disorder that affects health by affecting an organism’s body, organs, tissues or cells.
How does experiencing trauma affect a person’s life?
For some people though, a traumatic event can lead to mental health issues such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use, as well as impacting on their relationships with family, friends, and at work.
Can emotional trauma cause illness?
Studies suggest that
trauma could make you more vulnerable to developing physical health problems, including long-term or chronic illnesses
. This might be because trauma can affect your body as well as your mind, which can have a long-term impact on your physical health.
What are my personal values and beliefs?
Personal values are
those beliefs that motivate our actions and guide us through our lives
. They weave into our personalities and define who we are. They even become a part of us and influence our decisions and actions. Our lives are shaped by what values we choose to prioritize and adapt.
What influences care value?
They are influenced by
our beliefs, our background, education, and our individual and wider social networks
. Some of our personal ideas can originate from prejudice, myths and assumptions.
Why are personal values important in healthcare?
Values can influence work contribution. As Skills for Care puts it “Values are central to work in health and social care.
They are principles that guide workers to understand right from wrong and are about what is important when caring and supporting individuals
.”
What are some traditional beliefs about healthcare in the community?
The basic concepts of treating patients with respect
compassion and honesty
are still respect, compassion, and honesty are still what are most important to patients, regardless of cultural/ethnic background regardless of cultural/ethnic background.
What are examples of traditional beliefs?
Such beliefs include
avoiding the sun or moon at certain times or wearing charms
(e.g., dead spiders, children’s teeth, or leopard skin bracelets). Providers should discourage dangerous or counterproductive beliefs, however.
What do some cultures believe that illness is caused by?
Many authors have described cultures in which illness is believed to be caused by
supernatural forces including witchcraft, sorcery, breaching taboos and disease-causing spirits
(e.g., [22–25]). Supernatural explanations also dominated the discourse of ill-health causation in our study.
