Health_and_Cultura

A cultural group is a self-defined group of people who share a commonality of cultural experience. Cultural groups may be defined by many types of commonality, such as ethnicity, religion, or physical commonality. It is important to take into consideration that culture is not tied simply to ethnicity, but goes way beyond the realm of race. Even within “white – America”, there are numerous cultures. Culture can be broken down as far as the differences between the ages. The studies of health behavior in different cultural groups are and have been very important in today’s society. There are as many cultures in the United States as there are in the world. As a healthcare provider or researcher in today’s civilization, it is important to be aware of the many and ever changing cultural groups in society. Why is this so important' Cultural awareness, competence and sensitivity could possibly facilitate the influence of health care providers as well as researchers. Many cultures have health practices and beliefs that differ significantly from each other as well as typical “Western Science.” Some cultures beliefs restrict them from eating certain foods, which in turn can affect their health in a positive or negative sense. Some cultures are forced to practice unhealthy eating behaviors because of their environment, social or economical state. Cultural understanding for researchers may also enhance the ability to develop interventions that could coincide with the cultural needs and traditions of this varied population and with testing the interventions within these populations. Researcher’s cultural awareness can be detrimental in selecting culturally diverse individuals into research studies and maintaining these individuals until the study is complete, so that definite findings can be made about the interventions performed. I think this an important topic of study, because there are so many cultures out there and it is viable as health care providers and researchers to be knowledgeable about and find ways to help educate and provide the proper care and information to these cultures without compromising their beliefs and practices if necessary. It is important as well to be able to relay info and possibly suggest other medical solutions that although may go against one’s beliefs, might not make the individual feel as if they have totally thrown their cultural belonging completely out the door. Without being aware of these differences, how will researchers know where to start, or why a specific group has the health issues that they have, or identify potential or existing health hazards and come up with interventions to help ease or eliminate them while remaining culturally sensitive'