Assignment On Culture And Society In Public Health

Running Head: PUBLIC HEALTH 0
Culture and Society
in Public Health
Student Name:
Student University:

PUBLIC HEALTH 1
In public health, culture is used as an explanatory and descriptive concept putting efforts to
understand human knowledge and action about health, medicine, illness, and health-seeking
practices of groups and individuals. It helps in increasing medicine intervention and global
connections looking towards the renewed attention to health disparities and issues of cultural
competence related to health behaviours (Betancourt, et al., 2014). The interactions in society
acquired by humans define culture as a holistic system constructing static thing. It considered
to be complex system and is learned and relational with a dynamic process in relation to
social contexts. It consists of shared meaning system including unconscious and conscious
assumptions looking at individual experience and guiding for future actions and expectations.
It provides recognition of the exercise of power for efforts in understanding and focusing on
culture and issues of cultural competence (Betancourt, et al., 2016). The concept of culture
understands human practices tracing cultural influences on health and efforts on improving
the measures. The society consists of historical, political, economic and geographic contexts
by which culture informs and gets influenced to determine and be accountable. In this essay,
the discussion is on working with diversity considering the terms cultural competence,
cultural humility and cultural responsiveness used in public health and to know their
differences or similarities. It is based on the impact related to society and culture concerns of
public regarding health which requires development of the health disciplines. It consists of
social issues and problems related to health get after looking at cultural values and practices,
social conditions, emotions and personification.
In public health, some of the key terms which are used by healthcare professionals are
cultural competence, cultural humility and cultural responsiveness while working with
diversity. Understanding of these terms is important for healthcare professionals so that they
are able to address key challenges relating to diversity while discharging their duties. One
aspect of healthcare is cultural competence is the capability of providers and organizations
which effectively delivers cultural and social needs of patients, meeting linguistic health care
services (Kirmayer, 2012). The increase in diversity of the country comes with challenges
and opportunities for healthcare providers, policy makers and healthcare system for
delivering and creating culturally competent services (Hughes, 2016). The contribution in
eliminating ethnically and racially disparities, quality of care and helping in better health
results can be improved cultural competence. The strategic moving of the healthcare system
is for the achievement of goals consists providing proper training on cross-cultural issues and
cultural competence to health experts and reduction of linguistic and administrative hurdles

PUBLIC HEALTH 2
by making policies for patient care. The incorporation of cultural attitudes and values
specifically into health promotional tools, interpreter services, using community health
workers, retaining and recruiting minority staff, coordinating with traditional healers,
providing training to increase cultural knowledge, cultural skills and cultural awareness,
expansion in hours of operations and more helps in changing the healthcare system (Renzaho,
et al., 2013). It is an on-going leaning process required for increasing the cultural competence
of the healthcare delivery system.
Among the health care aspects with cultural competence relating to service providers worked
with clients, cultural humility is an another aspect differentiating with the development of
partnership with diverse groups, individuals and communities. Cultural humility helps in
improving relationships with the values consisting openness, flexibility, appreciation and
acceptance (Foronda, et al., 2016). It requires the knowledge of cultures influencing
population of society including establishment, resettlement, religious impacts, social or
political forces and local shifts. In healthcare, impact of culture is diverse for public related to
health concerns, medical advice follow-up, taking medications and healthy behaviours.
Cultural humility includes knowledge about the impact of self-sense and space, language and
communication, appearance and dress, eating habits and food, and time consciousness and
time (Foronda, et al., 2018). Others are values and norms, relationships, learning and mental
processes, attitudes and beliefs, and practices and work habits. It is a commitment to critique
and self-evaluation for addressing power relations and working in partnerships which is a
life-long process to check the power imbalance existing in the dynamics of communication.
The similarity between both the aspects is on the basis of skills consisting personal, inter-
personal, organizational, program planning, and advocacy and policy through every levels at
the time of assessing situations for improvement. It requires communicating with others from
their view point (Fisher-Borne, et al., 2015). Hence, the difference initiates cultural
competence as a inclusion of laws, policies, practices, rules, mandates, standards and
attitudes whereas cultural humility is a process of commitment for long-term to self-evaluate
and critiques for improving relationships and results. It is just a matter of authority.
Moreover, cultural responsiveness is the third aspect other than cultural competence and
cultural humility of healthcare. It provides the structure for recommending companies
providing health service to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations which is
easy to adapt by the staff and systems of healthcare systems. It also helps in addressing the
challenges related to cultural diversity in healthcare systems. The services responsiveness to