...Tracing family history and lineages can be a hassle, a hard one at that. Some families have absolutely no trace of their tree, and some keep every record at every disposal. My family was never the one to appreciate the fragility and the necessity of keeping track of your ancestors, for it is their mistakes you can learn from, it is their traditions that we carry on or alter, and it is their name that we descend to our younger ones. Fortunately, I went into full research last year using both AncestryDNA’s database and excerpts from my close family members and was able to conclude a strong understanding of my family’s heritage. My mother’s side of the family emigrated from Sicily in the early 90s and settled in Lebanon, where they adopted the...
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...Many heritages from around the world have their own ethnicity, which makes them unique. However, coming from Hispanic heritage is a sentiment which can’t be described, I being able to justify it. My family, the school I attend has been able to shape the world I live today and it has affected how the Hispanic heritage has critically changed my life. My family has being the most important figures in my life growing into adulthood. My mother significantly has taught me to value the world and has enriched me with her love, which I can’t thank her enough for. My dad, which I look up to profoundly, has provided me with the best education, even more, with the characteristic of true man. Although my family has faced arduous moments, with our Hispanic...
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...culture to provide optimal care that promotes wellness (Lipson & Dibble, 2008). Summarization People have diverse beliefs about health, illness, disease, birth and death, which are directed by culture. Heritage assessment is an important step towards building understanding of cultural competency, a phenomenon that recognizes diversity, both in linguistic and cultural adeptness by the health care provider. A person’s culture, beliefs, heritage, and language have a substantial impact both as a patient and a health care provider within the health care system (Spector, 2009). Although only 29 questions were supplied in the heritage assessment tool, the questions cleared a pathway for opening up dialogue about ones beliefs regarding health, illness, spirituality, and family support, which linked personal values to them. In this paper diversity was identified as a key component between the three ethnic groups compared, which were American with subgroups of Irish/German, Hispanic, and Filipino Health and Wellness is at the core of Health Tradition’s but varies according to ones personal cultural heritage. My heritage like many people has subgroups. I am an American born in the U.S. with my descendants from Ireland and Germany. When it comes to health tradition this heritage has played a role in shaping the foundation...
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...Heritage Health Assessment Tracy Shrum Grand Canyon University Heritage Health Assessment A complete health assessment needs to take into consideration a family’s risk factors by exploring their lifestyle, biological and environmental factors, social, psychological, cultural and spiritual dimensions that all impact their health care. The nurse’s role with families is to educate on preventive health services, raise awareness of modifiable risk factors and assist the family in influencing healthy behaviors within their family. (Edelman & Mandle, 2010) One resource utilized to assess heritage’s influence on health is a 29 question heritage assessment tool that examines who you are, your heritage and how closely a person identifies with their traditional heritage.(Spector, 2009) “This tool is very useful in setting the stage for assessing and understanding a person’s traditional health and illness beliefs and practices and compare them to one’s inconsistent heritage, the greater the number of positive responses, the greater the person’s identification with a traditional heritage.” Heritage consists of four major components that affect one’s health care beliefs socialization, culture, religion and ethnicity. (Spector, 2009) Upon completing the heritage assessment tool, I realized I do not practice currently in the cultural foundation my parents promoted for my family. I was raised in a religious home with my parents practicing Pentecostal religious beliefs. Even though...
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...Influenced by Hispanic Heritage: | | In anything that I decide to whole heartedly pursue in my life, I want to be an inspiration. I want to be a leader and a role model to my peers, but especially to my family and sisters. I want to be the one they look up to, the one they desire to be like through my academic achievements and extra-curricular activities that I have had the privilege to be a part of. My parents come from families that had to sacrifice education in order to provide for their families. My maternal grandmother never experienced any education beyond middle school, she was needed at home to help care for her siblings and forced to take on the role of a mother at a young age. She made sure they were bathed and feed, waking up in the morning to fix their breakfast and get them prepared for school. She had to drop her youngest sibling off at the babysitter’s house every day, so that she could attend to her other motherly duties, such as cleaning the house and grocery shopping. She was not able to go to school and gain a full education; she was forced to give that up so that she could help stabilize her family because her mother could not do it all alone. In the Hispanic heritage, family is first and we do whatever is necessary in order to put our family first and make sure they are cared for. It does not matter the circumstances. If we have to work three jobs in order to provide for our families, then that is what we will do without hesitation. My paternal grandmother...
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...Culture, Heritage & Health Culture & Cultural Competency in Health Promotion Culture, Heritage & Health This paper will discuss culture and the cultural characteristics that can be associated with various groups and the affect it can have on one’s health in aspects of health protection, maintenance and restoration. It will also discuss the usefulness of a heritage assessment tool in providing better care for patients. The differences will be viewed based on culture in health protection, maintenance and restoration. A heritage assessment tool is a means to capture a snapshot view of one’s culture/heritage. Culture is defined as “an element of ethnicity, consists of shared patterns of values and behaviors that characterize a particular group. It is “shaped by values, beliefs, norms, and practices that are shared by members of the same cultural group” (Edelman & Mandle, 2006) In examining a patient’s heritage, it can provide an opportunity for better understanding in providing the best care possible for a patient. Madeleine Leininger is the founder of the transcultural nursing theory, but many have followed in her footsteps and built on that initial idea. The Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Model is another tool that can be used. The model encompasses six cultural phenomena to be assessed: 1) Communication, which encompasses verbal and non-verbal communication and can be seen as the biggest barrier in working with clients from different backgrounds...
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...Heritage Assessment Chiugo Alexander Grand Canyon University: NRS-429 V Heritage Assessment September 19, 2014 Heritage Assessment America is a melting pot of people from divergent ethnicities in the world leading to disparity in the healthcare system. In other to improve the healthcare outcomes in the nation, there is a need to reduce the insightful disparity in health care status amongst the various ethnic groups that suffer great disproportionate poor health. With advancement in education and technology, there has been an increase in the awareness of how beliefs, values, religion, language, and other socioeconomic factors affects healthcare promotions and quest for seeking medical treatment (Green & Reinckens, 2013, p. 16). In other to achieve the health promotion process as outlined by World Health Organization, we will have to perfect our application of cultural competency to health care and hence the heritage assessment tool. Using information obtained from three families, this paper will analyze the importance of using the heritage assessment tool in assessing, evaluate, and compare their cultural beliefs, and how they subscribe to them and then develop health plans that lead to holistic care. Usefulness of Applying a Heritage Assessment in Evaluating the Needs of the Whole Person Heritage Assessment Tool represents a complete overview of a person’s way of living. It encompasses a person’s history, system of worship, relationship to the immediate and extended...
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...The Impact of My Heritage and its Effect of my Career Path When addressed with the topic of my how my heritage molded me in to the person I am today, I had to first address how my upbringing and location made me Anne O’Hara. Now that’s not to say I wouldn’t be Anne O’Hara if I didn’t grow up the way I did; but it’s safe to assume I wouldn’t be the same person. Most of my family is relatively new to the United States. Being a genetic “mutt” might have skewed the way I view my heritage. My family comes from a complex network of countries and their experiences have unintentionally trickled down into the teachings of what my mom and dad teach me. My surroundings growing up was superior to most Virginians. I was born and raised in Fairfax...
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...thought and the most important things that define me are my adoption, heritage, and passion for the game of softball. It is not just one aspect that defines me. It is through my past experiences, and future ones that shape who I am as an individual person. My adoption would have to be what defines me the most because being adopted shows a person that they can’t take their family for granted. Building and keeping the strong relationship with my family is very important to me. These relationships continue to grow every day. Without my family I don’t know where I would be right now. The basically saved my life and that’s what family is for. Another thing that adoption has taught me about is inclusion. My family took me in when I needed it the most and they didn’t treat me like I was an outsider even though they didn’t know anything about me or where I came from. Including someone is something me and my friends are doing could change someone’s life for the better. I was taught that I shouldn’t exclude anyone and if they are shy go over to them and ask if they want to join. Continuing with the family idea and the adoption, my heritage is also another thing that defines me. With being adopted I was only introduced to my adopted family’s heritage which is Irish, German, and Scottish. However, this summer I decided to ask my mom what my true heritage was and she told me that I was Greek. By me being Greek it explains a lot about my...
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...Heritage Assessment NRS-429V | Culture and Cultural Competency in Health Promotion John Thomas 3/24/13 The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002). This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world. Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts...
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...Heritage Assessment The Heritage Assessment is a useful tool that can be used to understand the diversity of individuals that are routinely cared for in different regions where local health care facilities are operated. As stated in one dictionary, Heritage is defined as “Valued objects and qualities such as cultural traditions, unspoiled countryside, and historic buildings that have been passed down from previous generations” (Oxford, 2014). Along with heritage, “culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation” (Hofstede, 1997). These two when associated with Assessment, which is defined as “the evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or ability of someone or something” (Oxford, 2014), forge the ability to create part of a Patient Care Plan. Being in the Health Care profession we must try to identify our patient’s culture or heritage preferences, along with understanding our own to better serve our patient’s. Though not perfect, as described above, the Heritage Assessment tool is used along with close observation, to assist in learning of ones heritage. Using this tool which “consists of twenty-nine questions aimed at providing an understanding of ones connection with their heritage and level of involvement in cultural and religious practices. The more the individual answers yes to the questions, the more they identify themselves...
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...Linda’s Heritage Assessment Paper Cultural differences abound in America today. Approaches to health also differ from one culture to another. People are shaped by their traditions and use traditional ways to satisfy their needs for better health (Agec, 2012). America is a melting pot of different cultures. This cultural diversity comes with differences in health traditions and health decisions. It could be a religious approach to health or a cultural tradition. Health has a different meaning for different people. So, everyone has a different approach to his or her health ( Alpa, 2007). Cultural heritage is an important of one’s economic, social and health issues. It helps one understand someone else’s health heritage, as well as traditional health methods that are used to maintain, protect, and restore health. Applying these concepts makes it easier to deal with a person’s physical, mental, and spiritual beliefs. Different cultures have different values and beliefs of health, disease, illness, birth, and death. It is essential to open a pathway for the effective communication of others values and beliefs, in regards to health, illness, family support as well as spiritual values ( Agec, 2012). Health concerns though practiced in all traditions, varies among different cultures. To become aware of another’s culture and health traditions can enable one to better understand and respect another’s cultural traditions, health...
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...values passed on by our families. For example, let’s go back a few generations and look at a 1950’s family. This particular family, sticking to gender and religious norms of the time, goes to church every Sunday, dressed to impress. They then come home for a family meal, prepared by the mother. This act...
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...Heritage Assessment Heritage is who we are, where we come from, it’s our history. Traditionally the word heritage means one back ground or tradition. Each individual’s heritage varies between different cultures and consists of determination of one’s ethnic, religious, and cultural background (Spector, 2009). The heritage assessment tool helps healthcare professionals evaluate someone’s physical, mental, and spiritual beliefs which in turn helps with determining traditional health methods such as health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration. It also helps in opening a pathway for effective communication between the patient and health care provider to understand ones culture, beliefs, as well as their health traditions. The greater the person’s identification with a traditional heritage, the greater number of positive responses they will have on the assessment (Spector, 2009). This paper will compare three heritages Hispanic, African American, and Chinese looking at the difference between health methods and traditions and will also assess the author’s heritage. Health maintenance is how one manages their health by preventing and promoting good health. The Hispanic cultures hold a very strong religious belief. The majority come from a Catholic background and relies heavily on God and prayer. They sometimes view good health as a reward from God and illness as a punishment for wrongdoing. Hispanics are very family oriented going beyond the nuclear family...
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...Cultural Heritage Grand Canyon University: NRS -429V-OL191 Cultural Heritage The concept of disease is a multifaceted understanding of why people select traditional folk medicine is an awareness of how the simple person defines disease. The word disease generally signifies any organic illness. All cultures have systems for classifying diseases on the basis of etiology, signs, symptoms and treatments. Multiple cultures both modern and past have defined illness when a person’s system is out of balance. Doctors have often seen patients that when they feel well – they believe they are well. This type of patient may have denial or a delay in diagnosis and treatment. Conferring to the utilitarianism of applying the heritage evaluation in to aide in assessing the requirements of the entire patient is useful in peering into the client’s culture and beliefs. Mainstream society has placed the importance of raising awareness and being culturally competent as a key factor in the health care industry. Culture itself has a prominent voice in society and demands to be heard and raises concerns within health care. Therefore the rise in public attentiveness place on competent medical attention, preventative care, and treating diseases has sparked interest from the medical community in which to provide appropriate, competent, and excellent care. Executing the Heritage Assessment toll is a great mechanist to obtain a clear foundation of a diverse individual before implementing a plan...
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