Cultural Analysis Paper

Regarding transcultural nursing care among vulnerable populations, I chose to study beliefs, values, and behaviors of Muslim patients with diabetes, particularly during fasting in Ramadan. The reasons for selecting to study the cultural and religious beliefs of Muslim patients are 1) I live in Dearborn, Michigan which is a large community of Arab-American community, 2) Muslim people is a minority ethnic group in Thailand, and 3) this month is a Ramadan which is a holy month of fasting for Muslims. Since I am a Buddhist and have no idea regarding Islam culture and beliefs, I am keen on to explore and understand the distinct perspectives of this religion. According to my topic of interest, I used the concepts of Leventhal’s model as points of departure to formulate interview questions and listen to the interviewees. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to explore illness representations in Muslim patients with diabetes during fasting in Ramadan. Participants of this cultural assessment were one Thai Muslim and one Syrian Muslim with diabetes who attempted to fast during Ramadan. The results of this cultural assessment will provide useful information in terms of transcultural care to guide nurses for further nursing …show more content…
To explain the perceptions of risks and self-management of Muslim patients with diabetes during fasting in Ramadan, the interview protocol was developed following the principle of the Leventhal’s illness representation model which show in Figure 1. Five domains of the illness representations which consist of identity, timeline, consequences, internal & external causes, and controllability were applied to describe the cognitive and emotional responses of these two