Cultural Perspectives on Orthodox Jews: A Case Study on H1 Diabetes

This report provides a cultural analysis of Orthodox Jews, specifically focusing on a 50-year-old Ashkenazi male patient with H1 diabetes. It explores the patient's behaviors, values, attitudes, food preferences (kosher), mental health considerations, and beliefs within the cultural family system. The research highlights the importance of considering religious and cultural factors in healthcare, including the patient's reliance on rabbinical guidance for medical decisions and spiritual means for health maintenance. The report also discusses the application of evidence-based cultural practice, emphasizing the need to understand the patient's perception of time, environment, and biological factors. The conclusion underscores the patient's understanding of his illness, willingness to take medication, and the potential genetic component of his condition. The report references relevant literature on cultural competence in healthcare and transcultural nursing research, emphasizing the importance of a humanized approach to patient care.

ORTHODOX JEWS

About Orthodox Jews
 A combined term for the traditionalist
divisions of present-day Judaism.
 Comprise 10% of the overall U.S. Jewish
population.
 One denomination of the three major
denominational movements of the Jewish
religion.
 Hold different degrees of observance,
from Modern Orthodox to Ultra-Orthodox.
 Adhere to Jewish law (halacha).

Purpose of the Paper
 Explore the Orthodox Jews as a
group/population; their behaviors, values,
attitudes, foods, mental health and
beliefs of the cultural family system.
 All members of the same cultural group
share the patterns that are present in
every culture.
 Research particularly revolves around a
50 years male orthodox Jews patient
suffering from H1 diabetes.

Behaviour
 Divided into Chassidic and non-Chassidic sects.
 Education to be an important endeavour.
 The 50 years male orthodox Jews patient suffering
from H1 diabetes considered for this research
pursued higher secular education and lives in urban
area of the major U.S. cities.
 His beliefs and practices may be considered both
cultural and religious.
 Apart from receiving medical care, patient along with
his family might look for spiritual means of
maintaining, protecting and restoring health by
obtaining blessings from righteous men as well as
women.

Values and Beliefs
 Both a religion and a culture.
 In the United States, the largest Jewish ethnic
groups are the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim.
 Jews whose ancestors lived in the Middle East,
North Africa, Spain, or Portugal are known as
Sephardic Jews (Edot Mizrach).
 Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews observe the
same Jewish laws, but some of their customs
and practices may differ.
 The patient considered is Ashkenazim with
ancestors from Germany.

Attitudes
 The patient believes that the God is the
ultimate healer.
 He believes in divine providence (that is, the
universe is controlled by God).
 Also, he has many people visiting him and
highly values it.
 Household and child-rearing tasks are
individually decided by the couple.
 Many Orthodox Jewish families seek
rabbinical advice regarding health care
decisions.

Food
 The patient strictly eats only strictly
kosher food.
 The kosher food would be double-
wrapped and the patient or family would
only open the food packaging.
 The patient also does not prefer eating
meat and dairy products together.
 The patient would also be asked the how
soon dairy foods could be offered after
meat has been consumed.

Mental Health
 He and his family require rabbinical guidance
for the purpose of forming health care decision.
 The Sabbath and Jewish holidays are observed
in maximum cases.
 Apart from receiving medical care, patient
along with his family might look for spiritual
means of maintaining, protecting and restoring
health by obtaining blessings from righteous
men as well as women, using amulets,
consuming particular food items and
performing specific rituals.

Communication
 The native language of the patient is
English and he grew up in English-speaking
home.
 Hebrew is the common language of the
Jewish people.
 It must be remembered that in Orthodox
Jewish practice, physical contact with a
member of the opposite gender is
prohibited unless it involves direct family
members or unless it is required for health
care.

Family Systems
 The patient’s family includes father,
mother, wife and one kid.
 He married at younger ages than the
average age of marriage in the United
States.
 He does not feel comfortable socializing
in situations in which both males and
females are present.
 Household and child-rearing tasks are
individually decided by the couple

Application of Evidence-Based
Cultural Practice
 Time
In order to comprehend individualistic opinions about culture,
nurses need to evaluate patient outlooks related to passage of
time, duration of time and points in time (Eisenberg, 2017).
 Environment group
In such a situation nurses must comprehend that such issues
perform a highly essential part in the manner patients
describe wellness and illness, use health care resources and
react to health related experiences.
 Biological
Nurses need to remember the individuality of people and that
an individual’s relation with any ethnic group doesn’t imply
that the patient would follow the communally acknowledged
meaning of his/her biological basis (Candelaria et al., 2019).

Conclusion
 Clearly highlights the case of an orthodox Jews
patient suffering from H1 diabetes.
 Patient holds sound knowledge about his illness
and has preference for curing it.
 The food he is consuming is reasonably not
responsible for his illness.
 The patient’s father is major diabetic so it is
possible that the illness is genetic.
 The patient easily understands and communicates
about his illness.
 He is also ready and willing to take up appropriate
medication to control the disease.

References
 Candelaria, L., et al. (2019).
Breastfeeding guidance for Orthodox
Jewish families when
 Eisenberg, D. (2017). Maintaining
compassion for the suffering terminal
patient while preserving life: An
Orthodox Jewish approach. Perspectives
in Biology and Medicine, 60(2), 233–246.