Course Reflection: Cultural Identity and Health in Nursing Practice

This essay reflects on the critical role of cultural identity in nursing practice, emphasizing its impact on patient care and health outcomes. The author discusses the importance of cultural competence, highlighting how understanding patients' cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and values is essential for providing personalized and effective care. The reflection covers key concepts from the course, including the influence of cultural identity on patient perceptions of illness, medication choices, and treatment plans. The essay emphasizes the need for nurses to develop cultural awareness, sensitivity, and skills to build trust and improve patient outcomes. The author also explores how cultural biases and variations can affect treatment preferences and the overall healthcare experience, concluding that a deep understanding of cultural identity is fundamental for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care.

RUNNING HEAD: CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HEALTH 0
2020
Cultural Identity and Health
Student’s Details-

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HEALTH 1
Introduction
Cultural identity is an important factor in the nursing practice as it allows the nurse to serve the
needs of individuals and communities and improve the health outcomes (Drevdahl, 2018). This
is also regarded as cultural competence which is crucial for skilled patient care as it influences
their health. Here, the discussion is made on my reflection on the topic which I have learned
from the course regarding the cultural identity which is included in topic 1 and also the concepts
of health which is included in topic 2 within the course.
Reflection
Cultural identity is the cornerstone for the facilitation of quality of care given to the patients
through understanding of the cultures of the patients (Capasso, et al., 2018). Culture is defined as
shared values of the group which can influence the care given to the individuals and
communities. Moreover, regarding the cultural identity topic I have learnt that there are certain
beliefs of the patients which shapes the perception about the illness. I have learnt that is cultural
identity is important for the nurse as it defines the ways patient’s care plan will be made. Also, I
have also understood that getting the knowledge about the different values and the perceptions in
turn helps the nurse to provide the personalized care. However, the culture influences the care
and the knowledge of different aspects of cultural values and beliefs must be taken care in order
to improve the care given to the patients (Drevdahl, 2018).
Further, I have gained that knowledge is the basis of building up of the cultural identity in which
getting increased awareness of the shared traditions and the values improves the health outcome.
Moreover, the knowledge of the shared values of the patients and their ethnicity is important as
this affects the treatment plans (Hughes, et al., 2020). It can also be observed that culture identity
will influence medication choices of the patients to be affected by the cultural beliefs. I have also
understood showing of right attitude towards the values and beliefs affects the health of
individual and communities which are driven by the cultural identity. However, the attitude of
the patient affects the behavior and thinking of the patients which ultimately affects the best care
to be given to the patients. This attitude can be understood through the communication between
the different between the specific cultural group which comprises of the customs, division of
roles in family and the spirituality which are the determinants of the attitude and behavior of the

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HEALTH 2
patients which facilitates the significant ways by which nurses can provide the quality of care
(Khatib & Hadid, 2019). Thus, topic1 was helpful for me in the understanding of the importance
of cultural identity which is required to be taken care for improving the quality of the health
outcomes.
The second topic is based on the health concepts in which I have gained the knowledge about the
need of the nurse to be aware of the culture which certainly influences the health concepts. I have
understood that the nurses have to develop a skill set for making interaction and improving the
outcomes. Moreover, it is important to create a positive environment which is realm of the
cultural identity (Capasso, et al., 2018). Specifically, the nurse is required to have the knowledge,
right attitude and the skills for meeting the expectations of communities through increasing the
awareness about the culture. Also, I have learnt that culture influences the beliefs and values
about the illness which approaches for the health promotion. However, this gives an idea to the
nurses to treat the patients and also allows the patients to get the tailoring treatment (Choi, et al.,
2016). Also, the patient’s dormant culture affects the treatment and the ways pains and sufferings
are expressed.
Also, the cultural identity defines the individualism and collectivism perspectives which alters
the diagnosis and the treatment of the patients. There are also cultural biases which can affect the
treatment and the health-related preferences which can affect the diagnosis. I have learnt that
these variations in the culture can have different treatment options in order to incorporate the
treatments. However, the demonstration of the high level of the patient’s culture awareness
improves the treatment process as the patient shows high level of trust on the nurse (Day &
Beard, 2019). The nurses are required to be aware of the individual’s culture in order to
formulate the treatment process by understanding the various assumptions of the beliefs and
customs of the individual. This also affects the biases and prejudices and are responsible for the
shaping of one’s culture. Cultural identity shapes the diversity and the religious of an individual
which affects the treatment of the patients. This is combined with the shared patterns of
psychological beliefs which has an impact on the individual’s health (Moise, et al., 2019). Thus,
the topic is helpful for me to gain the understanding of the different patterns of beliefs which
forms the cultural identity and influences the health of individual and the community.

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HEALTH 3
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that cultural identity describes the values and beliefs which can affect
the health of the individual. These differences can affect the preferences of treatment and the
procedure for diagnosis. However, the discussion here explains my personal reflection about the
importance of cultural identity which influences the health. Also, my learnings from the topic 1
in which I learnt about the cultural identity and also, I learnt about the health concepts in topic 2
of the course in which I have learnt the importance of the cultural identity within in providing
care to the individual and communities.

CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HEALTH 4
References
Capasso, R., Zurlo, M. & Smith, A., 2018. Ethnicity, work-related stress and subjective reports
of health by migrant workers: a multi-dimensional model. Ethnicity & Health, 23(2), pp. 174-
193.
Choi, E., Kim, G., Shim, J. & Son, Y., 2016. Hospital nurses' perceived patient safety culture and
adverse nurse outcomes in Korea. Research and theory for nursing practice, 33(2), pp. 134-146.
Day, L. & Beard, K., 2019. Meaningful inclusion of diverse voices: The case for culturally
responsive teaching in nursing education. Journal of Professional Nursing.
Drevdahl, D., 2018. Culture shifts: from cultural to structural theorizing in nursing. Nursing
research, 67(2), pp. 146-160.
Hughes, V. et al., 2020. Not missing the opportunity: Strategies to promote cultural humility
among future nursing faculty. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(1), pp. 28-33.
Khatib, M. & Hadid, S., 2019. Developing Cultural Competence as Part of Nursing Studies:
Language, Customs and Health Issues. International Journal of Studies in Nursing, 4(1), p. 63.
Moise, R. et al., 2019. The use of cultural identity in predicting health lifestyle behaviors in
Latinx immigrant adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25(3), p. 371.