Cultural Sensitivity in Mental Health: A Patient Care Analysis

This report delves into the critical importance of cultural sensitivity in healthcare, specifically within the context of mental health patient care. It emphasizes the need for healthcare professionals to be aware of and respect diverse cultural backgrounds to provide effective and compassionate care. The report presents a case study of a 25-year-old Aboriginal woman admitted to a mental hospital with schizophrenia. The patient's cultural background and specific needs are highlighted, illustrating the potential for miscommunication and misunderstanding when cultural sensitivities are not considered. The report underscores the impact of cultural insensitivity on patient well-being and the need for nurses to adapt their approach to align with the patient's cultural values. It also highlights the importance of effective communication and culturally appropriate care to ensure patient safety and trust. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of cultural awareness in healthcare delivery, referencing relevant literature to support its points.

CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
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CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
Cultural sensitivity is being aware that people are different and that one’s culture is not
better than the other is. In other words, cultural sensitivity is the awareness and acceptance of
other people’s culture. Mental health services should be made accessible to all and they should
focus on cultural needs (Spector 2015). It is important for nurses to have a cultural approach to
care for culturally diverse patients. For instance, during my practice as a mental nurse, Jane a 25-
year old Aboriginal woman was admitted to the mental hospital for schizophrenia. She was
going through delusions and hallucinations about spirits of her dead parents talking to her. She
does not speak English, but she speaks broken English and she appears to comprehend
everything she is told. She appears not to have taken a shower for a while. When a male nurse
approached her to make her take shower, she responded to him aggressively. She is already
feeling unsafe by the male nurse’s action. Already, the patient is feeling that the nurse does not
respect her culture. In this case, as a nurse, it is imperative for me to respect the cultural values of
other people especially my clients in order to ensure efficiency in healthcare delivery (Ekman
and Emami 2017).

Reference List
Ekman, S.L. and Emami, A., 2017. Cultural diversity in health care. Scandinavian journal of
caring sciences, 21(4), pp.417-418.
Spector, R.E., 2015. Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural
Nursing, 13(3), pp.197-199.