Role Concepts in Health Care : Assignment

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Running Head: Role Concepts in Health Care
Role Concepts in Health Care
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Role Concepts in Health Care
Introduction
Cultural diversity has engulfed all the aspects of life in the modern life. It is clear that the world
is found on the basis of different cultures. These cultures affect how people operate ranging from
their family matters to their workplaces. Cultural diversity as an existing factor epitomizes the
fact that not all the people are the same rather; individuals originate from different backgrounds.
These backgrounds might be associated with the ethnic origins, the regions, religious beliefs, and
family ties among others (Mazur, 2010).
The significance of cultures across the world and its impact on the workplaces has been evident
in almost every practices carried. The dynamic associated with the cultural practices invites a
deeper understanding of the different cultures and their significance. Every country has its major
cultural practices. The people available make the cultural practices unique from the others.
Furthermore, cultural diversity is also associated with the organizational practices in business
scenarios whereby, an organization creates a set of practices which it identifies with and with
which all the employees have to adhere to.
It is therefore, significant to note that, cultural diversity at work places may be expressed in a
variety of ways starting from the communication patterns of the people within the work
environment, their ethnicity, race, religion and sexual orientation among others. Hence
multiculturalism represents a group of people from the different societies or cultures; who may
coexist within a common work environment. Cultural diversity is an acceptable factor in the
organizational set ups, since no single culture exists alone in this world. However, some cultural
practices may not have certain universally accepted standards of measuring the viability of
cultural practices. Cultural elements such as the language, the symbols and beliefs among others
are generally used to elaborate the diversity in general terms.

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Role Concepts in Health Care
The Health Beliefs and Practices
From a cultural point of view, there are a series of health beliefs and practices that are carried out
across different cultures. The perceptions about different cultural practices vary from a group of
people to another group of people. Cultural health beliefs determine how a person is supposed to
express their concerns or illness. Some cultures for instance require that a person should not
publicly express their emotions when under severe pains as it may go against the societal cultural
norms and beliefs. Health beliefs and practices refer to those specific medical actions carried out
by different people depending on the cultural background in which they belong.
For instance, in birth and early infancy, there is a varied cultural belief regarding the mother’s
acceptable time to remain indoors and the appropriate time within which the mother can move
freely out. Some cultures require that mothers stay secluded indoors for a certain period of time
without coming out. These may also involve the feeding patterns, the close care of the umbilicus
and circumcision among others. In an attempt to prevent incidences of sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS), the American Academy of Pediatrics kicked off the campaign a back to sleep
campaign which encouraged mothers to have their infants sleep separately. However, majority of
black women within the US still share beds with their young children because they consider it
culturally acceptable (American Academy of Pediatrics , n.d.).
Traditional healing has also been significantly on the rise in which is generally termed as the
folklore medicine. Some people are considering it as alternative to the modern medication. Some
cultures have strongly embraced the folk medicine, and the general feeling that it works
according to them, and the pediatrics have been encouraged to respect the patient’s medical
beliefs that may not be parallel to what the modern medication entails.