Purnell 's Cultural Assessment Model Essay

Cultural competence has to do with one’s culture. Culture affects among other factors, how children are raised, how families communicate, what is considered normal or abnormal, ways of coping with issues, the way we dress, when and where we seek medical treatment, and so forth. I should know because I come from a very cultural home where it is considered bad to talk to a male doctor about anything gynecological.

S. R. is satisfied with her current weight of 113 lb., without food allergies, stating “I don’t limit the types of food that I eat, I use portion control and eat three meals and to snacks a day to maintain my health” (personal communication, August 20, 2010). The primary source of protein in her diet comes from fish, she balances her diet with several servings of fruit and milk daily. Organ meats are eaten regularly as part of her cultural heritage. Beef tongue, fish eyes, chicken liver and gizzards are among the organ meats that she consumes weekly. The primary way of cooking meets is by boiling, using ground pepper, chili powder and chili peppers for seasoning. Filipino comfort porridge, arroz ca is eaten in S. R. family when they are feeling ill or run down, it consist of chicken and rice (personal communica-tion, August 20, 2010).

Culture defined as “ an integrated pattern of human behaviour that include the language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, or social groups.”1 Competence refers to “the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviours, and needs presented by consumers and their communities.”2

This essay will provide information and outline the importance of being cultural competent, explore issues the Indigenous community have faced, and explain how Doris Pilkington Garimara drew attention to those problems. Cultural competence means to respect, accept and appreciate all cultures without any form of prejudice (Murphy, 2011). In the early twentieth century, Pilkington highlighted the issues about racism and the Stolen Generations to create awareness about those topics, lead people to respect and embrace Indigenous cultures, and hopefully lead those people to become culturally competent too.

Cultural Competency Having cultural competency within an agency is invaluable because it informs how that agency provides its services to clients. Cultural competence is commonly defined as “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable the system, agency, or professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.” In practice, this means availing consumers of services that are both accessible and culturally responsive. For some clients, providing culturally targeted services provides consumers with a safe space and a means of healing. Equally important, clients can examine how their cultural identity may be impacting their physical and mental health.

Diverse cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds function as sources of person, family, and community values. These backgrounds serve as a function of being the base of the foundation that makes up a family, community, or a person’s values. A culture shapes how people experience the world. It allows them to be a part of a community through interrelation of beliefs, experiences, and traditions that they share through their backgrounds. Social backgrounds influence how they might view their life values and how they see others. Cultural, ethnic, and social backgrounds affects how someone or a group may view and experience communicational, nutritional, and spiritual values along with the rest of the 12 domains of Purnell’s model. Experiencing

As a health care professional, we are faced with caring for patients of different cultural and ethnic background. Researching and learning about the patient’s culture values, beliefs and practices is essential and remarks the ability to provide quality health care for the patient. “Organizations and individuals who understand their clients’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices are in a better position to be coparticipants with their clients in providing culturally acceptable care” (Purnell & Paulanka, 2008, p. 2). After completing the cultural competence checklist, I was able to identify some of my responses to the patient cultural values and belief practices. I will describe a summary of my assessment results, analyze

In our today’s society, we are faced with multiple cultures that affect our ways of thinking, acting, and leaving. Cultural competency reflects one’s culture. Culture reflects the way the children are raised, their way of communicating, what is acceptable or not acceptable, the way they overcome challenges, their clothes, and how we go about medical treatment and so on. I know because I come from a very strong cultural background where it is considered bad to look at older people straight in the eyes while talking to them. Culture can be defined as “the learned and shared beliefs, values and life ways of a designated or particular group that are generally transmitted intergenerational and influence one’s thinking and action modes” (Leininger, 2002).

The United States is fast becoming culturally diverse and in order to provide efficient, appropriate, and individualized care, nurses need to be culturally competent. Cultural competence involves being aware of yourself, your existence, thoughts, and environment, and ensuring that those elements do not unjustly affect the patients you care for (Giger, 2013). It is adapting your care to be compatible with the culture of your client and is an ongoing, conscious process. I recently was able to talk with a fabulous woman from Ecuador, who I will refer to as LG. In this paper, I will review LG’s cultural background using the categories of Giger and Davidhizar’s Transcultural Assessment Model (Giger, 2013, pp. 6-10).

In the society of today, there are various educators who believe in assessment as proper method to measure the performance of a child in school as well as the overall achievement of a specific school system. The assessment may be presented in the form of verbal, written, or multiple choice, and it usually pertains to certain academic subjects in the school curriculum. Recently, many educators began to issue standardized tests to measure the intelligence of a common student body. (Rudner, 1989) These standardized tests were initially created to reveal the success in institutional school programs, and exhibit the abilities of students today. The standardized tests can reveal the strengths and weaknesses

Purnell’s Model of Cultural Competence is often used in health care settings to determine variations in value’s, beliefs, and cultures of an individual. This model has been very helpful, especially for student nurses as a tool for clinical assessment. I interviewed Gabriel to get a better understanding of his culture and values. The two domains I am focused on were communication and family roles and organization.

No individual can arrive at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilization has in it any element that the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual. Where else could any trait come from except from the behaviour of a man or a woman or a child? (253)

Culture surrounds us every day, it is in our arts, ourselves, our community and our careers. Everybody has multiple cultural elements that help create the personality of that person along with helping us identify similarities within a community that we individually reach out to be a part of. Casey, my interviewee, is a junior at Washington University of Saint Louis undergoing a Neuroscience major along with minors in music, linguistics, and French. She identifies herself as a Democratic, Christian, Caucasian. These are the three most stereotypical culture identities that most people are aware of and refer to themselves as. She also considers herself a multilingual, vegan, and bisexual. These identities too, are looked upon by other people in which they would like to express and follow in their everyday practices.

This essay will also discuss the authors own culture, knowledge, experience and behaviour that were previously discussed in assessment 1. According to Quappe and Cantatore (2005), in order for one to be culturally self-aware, the ability to understand one’s own belief, perceptions and cultural values are necessary for understanding and the development of other’s cultural dynamics. Moreover, according to Brislin, Worthley and Macnab

For the purposes of this piece, culture is defined as “the full range of human patterned experience” as described by Cole (1996) cited in Gla ̆veanu & Jovchelovitch (2017, p.113). This chapter also provides a description of the importance culture plays in psychological research.